A medical specialist is someone who specializes in a particular field of medicine. In some jurisdictions they may also be known as physicians.

Medical specialists go through additional training, above and beyond medical school and internship in order to become very knowledgeable about a specific part of the human body. You can expect a specialist to have taken at least two to three years of extra training, above and beyond that of a general internist, in their specific field, and that they will continually research progress in their field. In the medical profession they often function as consultants, either for private practice or employed by a hospital. General practitioners will see the patients first, and if they are presented with a patient that they cannot cure, or if they cannot discern what is causing the illness the specialist is called in to examine the patient. The philosophy behind this approach is that the average patient will not need a specialist, so specialists do not usually see them first, but wait until specifically asked. This system has the benefit of not requiring general internists to have incredibly specific knowledge of all medical matters, an impossible feat, but allows them to delegate responsibility to those with more specific knowledge when the situation calls for it.

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• Veterinary specialties

More on [ Medical specialist ]

UPHS - Penn Today Online, Physician Forum Newsletter

Clinical Briefing: Robotic Surgery for Gynecologic Conditions and Cancer
Physicians in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Penn are now using the latest robotic surgical systems to treat gynecologic disorders and cancers, as well as to repair and reconstruct pelvic organs and support tissue. These procedures complement the growing presence of robotic surgery at Penn in a variety of areas.
Clinical Briefing: Endobronchial Ultrasound-Guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration For Diagnosis of Thoracic Adenopathy and Lung Cancer Staging
Interventional pulmonologists at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania are using a new minimally invasive technology, endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA), to diagnose thoracic adenopathy and to stage lung cancer less invasively. EBUS-TBNA integrates ultrasonography, video-enhanced visualization and real-time echogenic needle aspiration into a single, flexible, bronchoscopy unit.
Clinical Briefing: Distraction Osteogenesis
Oral and maxillofacial surgeons at Penn were among the first to apply distraction osteogenesis to the treatment of surgical, genetic, age-related and traumatic defects of the jaws.1 Originally developed to treat patients with orthopaedic trauma or disease, distraction osteogenesis involves the use of a distraction device to gradually (1 mm per day) separate existing bone segments, creating gaps where new bone forms.
Clinical Briefing: Calypso(R) System Tracking and Target Localization during Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer
The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania is just the third institution in the country to install the Calypso(R) 4D Localization System(TM) to guide radiation therapy for prostate cancer. Calypso employs radiofrequency technology comparable to the global positioning system to continuously and precisely monitor biologically inert transponders implanted in the prostate.

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