Medicine is the science and art of It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of Contemporary medicine applies health science, biomedical research, and medical technology to diagnose and treat injury and disease, typically through medication or surgery, but also through therapies as diverse as psychotherapy, external splints & traction, prostheses, biologics, ionizing radiation and The word medicine is derived from the Latin ars medicina, meaning the art of In most countries, it is a legal requirement for a medical doctor to be licensed or In general, this entails a medical degree from a university and accreditation by a medical board or an equivalent national organization, which may ask the applicant to pass This restricts the considerable legal authority of the medical profession to physicians that are trained and qualified by national It is also intended as an assurance to patients and as a safeguard against charlatans that practice inadequate medicine for personal While the laws generally require medical doctors to be trained in "evidence based", Western, or Hippocratic Medicine, they are not intended to discourage different paradigms of