A
physician specialty is any specific branch of medicine
in which a physician may concentrate. Data are based on physician
self-reports of their primary area of specialty. Physician data are
broadly categorized into two general areas of practice:
generalists and specialists. Primary
care generalist
physicians practice in the fields of family
and general practice, general internal medicine, and general
pediatrics. They specifically exclude primary care specialists. Primary
care specialists practice in the subspecialties of general and
family practice, internal medicine, and pediatrics. The primary care
subspecialties for family practice include geriatric medicine and
sports medicine. Primary care subspecialties for internal medicine include
diabetes, endocrinology and metabolism, hematology, hepatology,
cardiac electrophysiology, infectious diseases, diagnostic laboratory
immunology, geriatric medicine, sports medicine, nephrology, nutrition, medical
oncology, and rheumatology. Primary care subspecialties for
pediatrics include adolescent medicine, critical care pediatrics,
neonatal-perinatal medicine, pediatric allergy, pediatric
cardiology, pediatric endocrinology, pediatric pulmonology, pediatric
emergency medicine, pediatric gastroenterology, pediatric hematology/oncology,
diagnostic laboratory immunology, pediatric
nephrology, pediatric rheumatology, and sports medicine. Specialist
physicians practice in the primary care specialties, in
addition to all other specialist fields not included in the generalist
definition. Specialist fields include allergy and immunology,
aerospace medicine, anesthesiology, cardiovascular diseases, child
and adolescent psychiatry, colon and rectal surgery, dermatology,
diagnostic radiology, forensic pathology, gastroenterology,
general surgery, medical genetics, neurology, nuclear medicine,
neurological surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, occupational medicine,
ophthalmology, orthopedic surgery, otolaryngology, psychiatry, public
health and general preventive medicine, physical medicine and
rehabilitation, plastic surgery, anatomic and clinical pathology,
pulmonary diseases, radiation oncology, thoracic surgery, urology, addiction
medicine, critical care medicine, legal medicine, and clinical
pharmacology.