Public Health Physician

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The clinical health profession of public health physicians plays a key role when it comes to ensuring that the public’s health and safety through effective prevention methods. After completing their MD or Doctor of medicine degree at a licensed medical school, they must pass the United States Medical Licensing Exam in order to work as a public health physician. According to the official United States Medical Licensing Examination organization, this exam “assesses a physician’s ability to apply knowledge concepts, and principles, and to demonstrate fundamental patient-centered skills, that are important in health and disease and that constitute the basis of safe and effective patient care” (United States Medical Licensing Examination). After …show more content…

Specifically, when compared to primary care physicians, public health physicians are unique in their field due to their intense focus on prevention of diseases rather than diagnosis and treatment. Depending on the placement of the physician, different responsibilities may be required in order to protect the community. Public health physicians placed at colleges or universities are expected to effectively instruct current medical; public health physicians placed at government agencies may be expected to propose health-care legislations, as well as oversee offices and commissions within the public health field at either the city, state or federal level; and finally, public health physicians working directly with the public are expected to oversee clinics within the community in order to treat patients and monitor diseases. Nonetheless, these physicians’ roles focus primarily on improving the overall health of the public, reducing incidences of illness and injury, and protecting the community from the spread of …show more content…

According to the article, The Future of Public Health, published within The New England Journal of Medicine, the importance of public health physicians and their role in protecting the public from disease will still be an evident aspect of maintain the public’s health as new diseases emerge and as old diseases begin to mutate, “To maximize health overall, both communicable and noncommunicable disease threats need to be addressed in the United States and globally” (Frieden). With this threat constantly showing its presence and impact within the community, public health physicians have been making successful improvements for the health of the public. Research has supported the notion that the public health field has been improving the lives of individuals all of the world over the last century, “Globally, life expectancy doubled during the 20th century, largely as a result of reductions in child mortality attributable to expanded immunization coverage, clean water, sanitation, and other child-survival programs” (Frieden). With evidence that the public health field, specifically the physicians and their prevention programs, has been improving lives of all types of individuals within the community, the job prospects

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