What does a NHS hospital doctor do?
In this article, we will describe what does a NHS hospital doctor do.
A hospital doctor diagnoses and treats illness and disease in patients admitted to hospital, or seen in hospital outpatients. To do this, they assess patients with a history (asking questions), examination and tests. Treatments include drugs, procedures (including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and dialysis) and operations (done by surgeons).
Their patients need specialist care that a GP cannot provide.
When patients are very ill, they are looked after in intensive care (ICU) often by groups of different consultants.
Different hospital specialties
There are many specialties within hospital medicine. They may also specialise in areas such as:
- Anaesthetics. The practice of anaesthesia; putting patients to sleep for operations, or other pain-relieving techniques.
- Emergency medicine. Diagnoses and treats patients who are critically ill or injured.
- Medicine. The phrase ‘medicine’ does not mean all of medicine in a hospital context. It means a large group (10+) of non-surgical specialties that make up 75% of hospital doctors. It includes ‘more acute’ specialties like cardiology, nephrology, gastroenterology, and respiratory and acute medicine; and ‘less acute’ ones like diabetes/endocrinology, dermatology, neurology and rheumatology. All of these doctors are also called physicians.
- Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G). Obstetrics focuses on childbirth and related issues, while Gynaecology focuses on diseases specifically associated with women.
- Paediatrics. Diagnose, treat and manage childrens’ diseases. Neonatology is a subtype of paediatrics.
- Pathology. Focuses on the causes, origins and nature of diseases. Haematology, biochemistry, microbiology, virology and immunology are subtypes of pathology.
- Psychiatry. Involves diagnosing, treating and preventing mental, emotional and behavioural disorders.
- Radiology. Involves the diagnosis and treatment of injuries and diseases using medical imaging; including x-rays, CTs, MRIs, ultrasounds and angiographic techniques.
- Surgery. The use of operations or procedures to treat disease or injury, to improve bodily function, appearance or to repair injured tissue. There are many types of surgery, from upper & lower GI surgery and urology – to cardiac, vascular, breast, neuro- and plastic surgery – to ophthalmology, maxillo-facial surgery and ENT.
- Trauma and Orthopaedics (T&O). Includes the treatment of bone fractures, dislocations, amputations and injuries to muscles or joints.
Depending on the speciality, a doctor has different roles and responsibilities. Surgeons, for example, have very different jobs from psychiatrists.
A surgeon does operations or procedures directly on or inside the human body. Whereas a psychiatrist diagnoses and treats mental illness, through medication and talking therapies.
Summary
We have described what does a NHS hospital doctor do. We hope it has been helpful.
