Physician
This article is about the term physician, one type of 'doctor'; for other uses of the word doctor see Doctor.The word physician should not be confused with physicist, which means a scientist in the area of physics.The word physician always applies to a person who practices some type of human biological medicine. Physicians are traditionally considered to be members of a learned profession, because of the extensive training requirements and also because of the occupation's special ethical and legal duties.
Etymology of the word physician
The word physician shares a common etymology with words such as physics & metaphysics, physical, physique, and physiognomy.The Classical Greek noun phusis and derived adjective phusikos meant "nature" and "natural". From this, amongst other derivatives came the Late Latin physicus, which meant a doctor of medicine. After the Norman Conquest, the word entered Middle English via Old French fisicien, as early as 1200. Originally, physician meant a practitioner of physic (pronounced with a hard C). This archaic noun had entered Middle English by 1300 (via Old French fisique). The noun physic meant the art or science of treatment with drugs or medications (as opposed to surgery), and was later used both as a verb and also to describe the medications themselves
Different meanings of the word physician
In modern English, the term physician is used in two ways, with relatively broad and narrow meanings respectively.This may be confusing, especially to non-physicians.Physician in the broad sense, usual in North America, now applies to any legally qualified practitioner of medicine. In the United States, the term physician is now commonly used to describe any medical doctor holding the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.), Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (D.P.M.) or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) degree. The American Medical Association, established 1847, uses physician in this broad sense to describe all its members. See the article on Medicine for more information on what physicians (in this broad sense) do in practice.
Physician is still widely used in the older, narrow sense, especially outside North America. In this usage, a physician is a specialist in internal medicine or one of its many sub-specialties (especially as opposed to a specialist in surgery). This traditional meaning of physician still conveys a sense of expertise in treatment by drugs or medications, rather than by the procedures of surgeons.[4] This older usage is at least six hundred years old in English; physicians and surgeons were once members of separate professions, and traditionally were rivals. The Shorter OED, third edition, gives a Middle English quotation making this contrast, from as early as 1400: "O Lord, whi is it so greet difference betwixe a cirugian and a phisician." [5] Henry VIII granted a charter to the Royal College of Physicians (London) in 1518, and granted the Company of Barber/Surgeons (ancestor of the Royal College of Surgeons) its separate charter in 1540. In the same year, the same English monarch established the Regius Professorship of Physic at Cambridge University [6]. Hence, in the 16th century, physic meant roughly what internal medicine does now.
These days, a specialist physician in this older, narrow sense would probably be described in the United States as a internist (a specialist in internal medicine). This narrow usage of physician is common in Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa, India, Indonesia, Republic of China (Taiwan), Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Hong Kong. In such places, the terms doctor or medical practitioner are prevalent, to describe any practitioner of medicine (whom a North American would likely call a physician, in the broad sense). For information on the work of specialist physicians in the older, narrow sense, see internal medicine, or else visit the web page What are Physicians? at The Royal Australian College of Physicians — the description given here applies fairly well throughout the Commonwealth of Nations.
On both sides of the Atlantic, the combined term Physician and Surgeon is a venerable way to describe either a General Practitioner, or else any medical practitioner irrespective of specialty.[1][4] This usage still shows the narrow meaning and the old difference between physician, as practitioner of physic, and surgeon. Some Americans may also consider those who hold the Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine (D.C.) or Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine (N.D.) degrees to be physicians, but, unlike M.D.s or D.O.s, neither are licensed to practice the full scope of medicine and neither are given the title Physician and Surgeon by United States medical boards.
Physician is still widely used in the older, narrow sense, especially outside North America. In this usage, a physician is a specialist in internal medicine or one of its many sub-specialties (especially as opposed to a specialist in surgery). This traditional meaning of physician still conveys a sense of expertise in treatment by drugs or medications, rather than by the procedures of surgeons.[4] This older usage is at least six hundred years old in English; physicians and surgeons were once members of separate professions, and traditionally were rivals. The Shorter OED, third edition, gives a Middle English quotation making this contrast, from as early as 1400: "O Lord, whi is it so greet difference betwixe a cirugian and a phisician." [5] Henry VIII granted a charter to the Royal College of Physicians (London) in 1518, and granted the Company of Barber/Surgeons (ancestor of the Royal College of Surgeons) its separate charter in 1540. In the same year, the same English monarch established the Regius Professorship of Physic at Cambridge University [6]. Hence, in the 16th century, physic meant roughly what internal medicine does now.
These days, a specialist physician in this older, narrow sense would probably be described in the United States as a internist (a specialist in internal medicine). This narrow usage of physician is common in Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa, India, Indonesia, Republic of China (Taiwan), Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Hong Kong. In such places, the terms doctor or medical practitioner are prevalent, to describe any practitioner of medicine (whom a North American would likely call a physician, in the broad sense). For information on the work of specialist physicians in the older, narrow sense, see internal medicine, or else visit the web page What are Physicians? at The Royal Australian College of Physicians — the description given here applies fairly well throughout the Commonwealth of Nations.
On both sides of the Atlantic, the combined term Physician and Surgeon is a venerable way to describe either a General Practitioner, or else any medical practitioner irrespective of specialty.[1][4] This usage still shows the narrow meaning and the old difference between physician, as practitioner of physic, and surgeon. Some Americans may also consider those who hold the Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine (D.C.) or Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine (N.D.) degrees to be physicians, but, unlike M.D.s or D.O.s, neither are licensed to practice the full scope of medicine and neither are given the title Physician and Surgeon by United States medical boards.
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