Paediatrician
A paediatrician specialises in the management of children’s health. This includes the management of physical, behavioural and mental health issues of adolescent patients. A paediatrician is trained to diagnose and treat childhood illnesses, from minor health problems to serious diseases.
A paediatrician provides:
- Preventive health maintenance for healthy children.
- Medical care for children who are acutely or chronically ill.
- Paediatricians manage the physical, mental and emotional well-being of their patients, in every stage of development – in good health or in illness.
Paediatricians focus on babies, children, adolescents, and young adults from birth to age 21 years to:
- Reduce infant and child mortality.
- Control infectious disease.
- Foster healthy lifestyles.
- Ease the difficulties of children and adolescents with chronic conditions.
Physician
Physicians are highly trained specialists who provide a variety of non-surgical health care services to adult patients. They treat difficult, severe or unusual medical conditions, and continue to see the patient until these problems have been resolved or stabilised. Most of their work take place with hospitalised patients. However, physicians also see patients in their consulting rooms. Their broad range of expertise differentiates them from other specialists who limit their medical practice to conditions involving only one body system or a specialised area of medicine.
A physician’s duties are as follows:
- Examining patients to determine the nature and extent of problems after referral from General Practitioners.
- Undertaking laboratory tests and diagnostic procedures.
- Prescribing therapeutic treatment and procedures.
- Treating by medication rather than surgery.