A medpunkt (health care access point) delivers primary health care to the residents of the village of Veliki Vrag in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia

Freud's couch used during psychoanalytic sessions

The entrance to a surgery clinic in Greenwich, London. Surgery (from the χειρουργική cheirourgikē, via chirurgiae meaning "hand work" is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental Greenwich ( ˈɡrɛnɪtʃ GREN-itch /ˈɡrɛnɪdʒ/ GREN-idge or /ˈɡrɪnɪdʒ/ GRIN-idge is a district in south-east London, London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom.

A clinic or outpatient clinic are originally small private or public health facility that provide health care for ambulatory patients or clients in a community, in contrast to inpatients treated in a hospital. Health care is the prevention treatment and management of illness and the preservation of mental health through the services offered by the medical, Nursing Some grow to be institutions as large as major hospitals, whilst retaining the name Clinic. General practice clinics are run by one or more general practitioners or practice managers. A general practitioner, or GP is a medical practitioner who provides Primary care and specializes in Family medicine. Medical practice consultants typically advise Physicians on the business issues they face in outpatient private practice Physiotherapy clinics are usually operated by physiotherapists and psychology clinics by clinical psychologists, and so on for each health profession. Clinical psychology includes the scientific study and application of Psychology for the purpose of understanding preventing Some clinics are operated in-house by employers, government organizations or hospitals and some clinical services are outsourced to private corporations, specialising in provision of health services. In China, for example, owners of those clinics do not have formal medical education. In the US, private and for-profit Hospitals account for 653% and 13 Health care in India, China, Russia and Africa is provided to vast rural areas by mobile health clinics or roadside dispensaries, some of which integrate traditional health practices. Healthcare and NARBs in India is the responsibility of the individual Indian states Barefoot doctors (Chinese 赤脚医生 were farmers who received minimal basic medical and Paramedical training and worked in In India these traditional clinics provide ayurvedic medicine and unani herbal medical practice. Ayurveda ( Devanāgarī: आयुर्वॆद the 'science of life' is a system of Traditional medicine native to India, and practiced in other Unani IPA: (in Arabic, Hindi, Persian, Pashtu, Urdu, etc means " Greek " In each of these countries traditional medicine tends to be an hereditary practice. The term traditional medicine ( Indigenous medicine or folk medicine) describes medical knowledge systems which developed over centuries within various societies

The function of clinics will differ from country to country. For instance, a local general practice run by a single general practitioner will provide primary health care and will usually be run as a for-profit business by the owner whereas a government specialist clinic may provide subsidized specialized health care. Primary health care, often abbreviated as PHC ( Primary Health Centre) and PC is "essential health care based on practical scientifically sound

Some clinics function as a place for people with injuries or illnesses to come and be seen by triage nurse or other health worker. Triage (ˈtriːɑːʒ is a process of prioritizing patients based on the severity of their condition so as to treat as many as possible when resources are insufficient for all In these clinics, the injury or illness may not be serious enough to warrant a visit to an emergency room, but the person can be moved to one if required. Treatment at these clinics is often less expensive than it would be at a casualty department. Also, unlike an ER these clinics are often not open on a 24 x 7 x 365 basis. They sometimes have access to diagnostic equipment such as X-ray machines, especially if the clinic is part of a larger facility. Doctors at such clinics can often refer patients to specialists if the need arises.

Etymology

The word derives from the Greek klinein meaning to slope, lean or recline. Hence kline a couch or bed, klinikos sloping or reclining and to Latin clinicus ^[1]. An early use of the word clinic was, 'one who receives baptism on a sick bed' ^[2]. Psychoanalytic clinics traditionally have the patient reclining on a couch to undergo analysis. Psychoanalysis is a body of ideas developed by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud and his followers which is devoted to the study of human psychological functioning and behavior

Types of clinics

• In the United States, a free clinic provides free or low cost health care for those without insurance. Health care in the United States is provided by many separate legal entities A free clinic is a medical facility offering community Healthcare on a free or very low-cost basis in areas where there is no universal provision for healthcare
• A Retail Based Clinic is housed in supermarkets and similar retail outlets providing walk in health care, which may be staffed by nurse practitioners. Convenient care clinics (CCCs are Health care clinics located in Retail stores Supermarkets and pharmacies that treat routine Family illnesses A Nurse Practitioner (NP is a Registered nurse who has completed specific advanced Nursing education (generally a Master's degree) and training in the
• A general out-patient clinic is a clinic offering a community general diagnoses or treatments without an overnight stay.
• A polyclinic is a clinic, hospital, or school where many diseases are treated and studied.
  • In the UK, the term is used to refer to very large clinics often formed by dissolving several existing GP clinics, and offering some social, complementary, and hospital services alongside the traditional ones^[3]. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located A general practitioner, or GP is a medical practitioner who provides Primary care and specializes in Family medicine. Although government-backed, such clinics have been found to offer poorer choice and worse access than traditional GP surgeries^[4], and have been repeatedly publically opposed by doctors, health experts, and patients^[5][6]. It has been claimed that the government has been bringing pressure to bear on Primary Care Trusts to implement them despite this opposition^[7]. A Primary Care Trust (PCT is a type of NHS Trust, part of the National Health Service in England, that provides some primary and community services or
  • In Russia, polyclinics were a feature of communist rule, but they were regarded as inefficient^[6] and were replaced by a model closer to that of the general practitioner following the disintegration of the Soviet Union^[8]. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending A general practitioner, or GP is a medical practitioner who provides Primary care and specializes in Family medicine. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991
• A fertility clinic aims to help those couples and individuals to become pregnant. Fertility clinics are staffed medical clinics that assist couples and sometimes individuals who want to become Parents but for medical reasons have been unable to achieve this An abortion clinic is a medical facility providing certain kinds of outpatient medical care, including abortion to women. An abortion clinic is a medical facility that performs or specializes in Abortions Such Clinics may be public medical centers or private medical practices An Such clinics may be public medical centers or private medical practices.
• A specialist clinic is a clinic with in-depth diagnosis or treatment on diseases of specific parts of the body. This type of clinic contrasts with general out-patient clinics, which deal with general diseases.

Examples of clinics

• Tavistock Clinic part of the Britain NHS, was founded in 1920's one of its most celebrated members was R D Laing. See Tavistock Institute for the independent charity focussing on group relations Ronald David Laing ( 7 October 1927 – 23 August 1989 was a Scottish Psychiatrist who wrote extensively on Mental illness
• San Francisco's Suitcase Clinic is a prime example of a free clinic. Suitcase Clinic is a Humanitarian Student organization that has offered free services and supplies to the uninsured Homeless and
• Christian Medical College & Hospital in Vellore, India has extensive roadside dispensaries and began as a one bed clinic in 1900. Christian Medical College & Hospital Vellore, known simply as "CMC Vellore", was founded by Ida S
• The Edmonton Clinic is a joint venture of the University of Alberta and a government health care body Capital health, expected to be completed in 2011. The Edmonton Clinic, formerly known as the Health Sciences Ambulatory Learning Centre (HSALC, will be a multidisciplinary Health science facility located
• The Shyness Clinic founded by Zimbardo to assist those disabled by public or private shyness. The Shyness Clinic is a pioneering clinic founded in the late 1970s by Dr
• La Borde clinic in the Loire valley France, is an innovative psychiatric clinic where patients are liberated to actively participate in the running the facility. La Borde is a Psychiatric clinic that opened in 1951 near the town of Cour-Cheverny in the Loire Valley of France.
• The Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic are two comprehensive health care systems. Mayo Clinic is a Non-profit medical practice Its headquarters the Mayo Medical School and its research facilities are in Rochester Minnesota in The Cleveland Clinic (formally known as the Cleveland Clinic Foundation) is a multispecialty academic medical center located in Cleveland, Ohio, This article describes policy-related systems For the article on hospital networks which are sometimes referred to as health care systems see Hospital network. Both began as much smaller group practices that have grown into large medical programs in the United States, whilst retaining their names. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the

References

See also

• Abortion clinic
• Free clinic
• Clinical Management System