Because medical knowledge and technology are constantly advancing, they must continue to study new developments throughout their careers. Areas of Specialization Physicians who are specialists tend to limit their practice to one particular area of the body, a particular disease, sex, or age group. There are approximately 35 major specialty fields with over 50 different subspecialty areas. Major specialty areas include anesthesiology, family medicine, internal medicine, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, pathology, pediatrics, psychiatry, radiology, and surgery. Internal medicine specialists diagnose and treat problems of internal organs such as the liver, heart, and lungs.
Family practitioners see patients of all ages and both sexes.
They concentrate on primary care for the entire family. When a special need arises the internist or family physician may refer the patient to a doctor who specializes in that problem. Many physicians work at least 60 hours per week on an irregular schedule and must be available for emergency illnesses. In addition to working in their offices, many physicians will make frequent trips to the hospital to care for their hospitalized patients and may remain on-call to respond to emergency situations. The majority of MDs who provide patient care have office practices either solo or with a group of other physicians.