Gastroesophageal Reflux Disea... : Doctor Special...

Call your health care provider if symptoms worsen or do not improve with lifestyle changes or medication. Also call for any of the following symptoms: Bleeding; Choking (coughing, shortness of breath; Early satiety (feeling filled up quickly when ...

It is important to call the doctor if GERD symptoms occur frequently or get worse. If symptoms disturb the child's sleep and interfere with school and play , a doctor should be consulted to determine a course of treatment. Also, if a child is not ...

The American Board of Medical Specialties recognizes Family Medicine as a distinct discipline requiring an additional three years of training for doctors who wish to become Board Certified in this field. Family Medicine doctors are usually primary care providers (PCPs) [formerly general practitioners, or GPs] for the entire family.

After a doctor completes medical school and is licensed to practice medicine, the physician may pursue a rigorous 3 year training program in Internal Medicine. After passing an examination and completing the requirements, the doctor is eligible to become Board Certified in Internal Medicine.

Harvard Medical School doctor addresses the question of whether a woman should see a gynecologist or an internist beyond her childbearing years.

Question: What is the best way to choose a qualified surgeon? Answer: Educate yourself about your surgical procedure. Choose a specialist who has performed many of these procedures and who is board certified in his or her particular specialty. In addition, try to speak directly with some former patients - don't just look at "before" and "after" photos. Many disease processes and surgical procedures have support groups to assist patients. (These are good sources for advice from other patients) Get a second opinion from another doctor once you have found someone who has recommended a particular treatment plan. In other words, make sure other surgeons would follow the same recommended plan. Avoid choosing a surgeon from an advertisement alone, and be cautious if a doctor suggests additional or multiple surgeries. See also: Choosing a primary care provider

General surgery is the treatment of injury, deformity, and disease using operative procedures.

Finding a surgeon refers to the process of choosing a doctor with specialized training in one or more branches of surgery to perform a specific procedure. It is almost always done in the context of elective surgery rather than emergency operations.

A nurse practitioner (NP) is a nurse with a graduate degree in advanced practice nursing.

A physician who specializes in the treatment of children from birth through adolescence. A pediatrician is a physician who has taken extra training in the development and diseases of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults through age 21. Parents are advised to begin the process of selecting a Parents rely on their pediatrician for support and advice as well as medical care. pediatrician about three months before their baby is due to be born. Most obstetricians will assist with the referral, and the American Academy of Pediatrics also offers a referral service. Other parents may also have recommendations and advice to offer. Because new parents will rely on their pediatrician for support and advice as well as medical care, it is important that they feel comfortable with the personality and style of the pediatrician they choose. Many parents interview more than one pediatrician before making the final selection. It is necessary to designate a pediatrician before the baby is born, so that he or she can examine the newborn in the hospital shortly after birth. Pediatricians receive extensive training that begins with four years of medical school. A three-year residency—special training in pediatrics—follows. (The resident works under the supervision of an experienced physician or team of physicians to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to diagnose and treat childhood illnesses, diseases, and conditions.) Following the completion of the residency, the newly trained pediatrician is eligible to take the written examination offered by the American Board of Pediatrics. When the pediatrician passes the certification exam, he or she receives a certificate—which most will frame and display on the wall of their office—and earns the right to use the initials FAAP (Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics) after his or her name. Only pediatricians that have passed the certification examination can join the American Academy of Pediatrics. As of 1997, there were over 48,000 board-certified pediatricians who were members of the Academy. Some pediatricians then elect to pursue more study in a specific area of pediatrics—known as a subspecialty. Subspecialties include: adolescent medicine; allergy/immunology; ambulatory pediatrics; behavioral/developmental pediatrics; cardiology; child development; community pediatrics; critical care; dermatology; developmental biology; developmental disabilities; emergency medicine; endocrinology (glands and diabetes); gastroenterology; general academic pediatrics/epidemiology; genetics/dysmorphology (inherited diseases); hematology/oncology (blood disorders/childhood cancers); immunology; infectious disease; metabolism; neonatal/perinatal medicine; nephrology (kidneys); neurology (nervous system); nutrition; pathology; pharmacology/toxicology; public health/preventive medicine; pulmonology; radiology; rheumatology; and teratology. Parents may also need to call on a medical specialist—such as an ophthalmologist or surgeon—who has received special training in pediatrics. Pediatricians are called on to provide a variety of services to families, including diagnosing illness, prescribing treatment, counseling families, monitoring the growing child's physical, mental, and social development, and advising adolescents on a range of emotional and social issues. Pediatricians may also participate in research, advocacy for social and legislative changes to benefit all children, and in public education on issues like nutrition, injury and disease prevention, and in providing guidelines for safe participation in athletics.

Detailed information on pediatricians and what formal education is required

Detailed information on choosing a pediatrician

American pediatrician 1870–1960 A portrait of Owen Wilson. In the preface of "The Care and Feeding of Southern Babies," Wilson said that other similar works focused on childrearing in cooler climates, and therefore were inapplicable to infants in the southern United States. [Eskind Library, Vanderbilt University.] A native of Tennessee, Owen Wilson was a pioneer in pediatric medicine. Born on July 20, 1870, he entered Vanderbilt University in 1884, at the age of fourteen, and graduated with an engineering degree in 1889. He immediately enrolled in Vanderbilt University's Medical School, and graduated two years later. Wilson pursued additional training at New York Polyclinic Medical School and Hospital. After practicing with a prominent Nashville surgeon for several years, Wilson decided to specialize in children's diseases. He established a large pediatric practice in Nashville and served as Professor of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical School from 1909 through 1942. In 1926, Wilson published a book entitled The Care and Feeding of Southern Babies: A Guide for Mothers, Nurses, and Baby Welfare Workers in the South. Wilson believed that babies in the southern United States, because of climate and family food habits, required different feeding guidelines than those generally given in the early twentieth century. In his book, Wilson offered instruction on the care and feeding of children from birth until age three, and he included tables of height, weight, and child development , as well as some recipes. Only three hundred copies of this book were published. Wilson suffered from a fatal heart attack on May 10, 1960. SEE ALSO B EIKOST ; B REASTFEEDING ; I NFANT N UTRITION . Karen Bryla

Detailed information on questions to ask your child's physician about cancer

A Nuclear Medicine physician is a doctor with three years additional training in advanced uses of radiopharmaceuticals to evaluate pathologic conditions of the body. Nuclear Medicine includes molecular imaging utilizing imaging systems to detect diseases or response to therapy.

Nuclear medicine technology is the medical specialty concerned with the use of safe and small amounts of radioactive material for diagnostic, therapeutic, and research purposes. Nuclear medicine involves using radioactive materials to perform body function studies and organ imaging, analyze biologic specimens and to treat, manage, and prevent serious disease. Nuclear medicine allows for early detection that can result in more effective treatments and better prognosis.