Doctor

From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change

A doctor is somebody that has college degrees (called doctorates) for medicine. Doctors are usually called doctor or physicians instead of Mr. or Mrs. The Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, has an advanced degree in physics, and in Germany is usually called Dr Merkel, not Mrs Merkel.

A person whose job is a doctor is someone who practices medicine to treat illnesses and injuries. A doctor who performs surgery is called a surgeon. Doctors go to medical school to be trained. Doctors once made house calls to treat patients at home, but now mostly see patients in their private offices or in hospitals. Doctors may also work for schools, companies, sports teams, or the military. Doctors are often assisted by nurses or other staff.

Doctors treat patients by diagnosing them—figuring out what is wrong—and then prescribing treatment, often drugs.

Some doctors specialize in a certain kind of medicine; they are called specialists. These doctors may only treat injuries to a certain part of the body, or only treat patients who have certain diseases, for example there are doctors who specialise in diseases of the stomach or intestines. Other doctors are "general practitioners" or "family practitioners", meaning that they do a little bit of everything and try to deal with as much of a patient's health problems as they can without sending them to a specialist.