Health professional

A health professional or healthcare provider is an individual who provides preventive, curative, promotional or rehabilitative health care services in a systematic way to people, families or communities.

A health professional may operate within all branches of health care, including medicine, surgery, dentistry, midwifery, pharmacy, psychology, nursing or allied health professions. A health professional may also be a public/community health expertee working for the common good of the society.

Practitioners and professionals

Healthcare practitioners include physicians, dentists, pharmacists, physician assistants, nurses, advanced practice registered nurses, surgeons, surgeon's assistant, athletic trainers, surgical technologist, midwives, dietitians, therapists, psychologists, chiropractors, clinical officers, social workers, phlebotomists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, radiographers, respiratory therapists, audiologists, speech pathologists, optometrists, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, medical laboratory scientists, medical prosthetic technicians and a wide variety of other human resources trained to provide some type of health care service. They often work in hospitals, healthcare centres, and other service delivery points, but also in academic training, research, and administration. Some provide care and treatment services for patients in private homes. Many countries have a large number of community health workers who work outside formal healthcare institutions. Managers of healthcare services, health information technicians, and other assistive personnel and support workers are also considered a vital part of health care teams.