Health practices

Conventional Western practices

• Athletic training
• Clinical laboratory sciences (in vitro diagnostics)
• Dentistry
• Dietetics
• Epidemiology
• Evidence-based medicine
• Genetic counseling
• Medical physics
• Medicine
• Nursing
• Nutrition
• Obstetrics, including Midwifery
• Occupational therapy
• Optometry
• Orthoptics
• Osteopathic medicine (Note: Osteopathy, as practiced in most countries other than the USA, is listed under complementary and alternative practices below)
• Paramedicine
• Pharmacy
• Physical therapy (physiotherapy)
• Prosthetics and Orthotics
• Psychology, including Animal, Behavioural, Clinical, Health, Medical, Neuropsychology and others
• Psychoanalysis
• Psychotherapy, including Cognitive therapy
• Public health
• Physical education
• Speech-Language Pathology
• Surgery, including anaesthesiology
• Veterinary medicine

Historical western

Further information: Ancient Greek medicine, Medicine in ancient Rome, Byzantine medicine, and Medieval medicine

• Blood letting
• Heroic medicine
• Magnet therapy
• Patent medicine
• Phrenology
• Trepanation

Complementary and alternative medicine

Main articles: Complementary and alternative medicine and Alternative medicine

• Alexander Technique
• Chiropractic (in some countries: included within Conventional Western practices)
• Dorn method
• Herbalism
• Holistic health
• Homeopathy
• Hypnosis
• Massage therapy
• Natural medicine
• Naturopathic medicine
• Orthomolecular medicine
• Osteopathy (Note: Osteopathic medicine as practiced in the USA is listed under traditional western practices above)

New Age or spiritualist

• Christian Science
• Faith healing
• Johrei
• Maharishi Vedic Medicine
• Reiki

Contemporary themes

Because health science deal with human life, issues of medical ethics, an important area of ethics, arise frequently. Medical ethics includes questions on topics such as a patient's right to privacy and his/her right to be involved in treatment and decision-making. Euthanasia, abortion, human cloning, stem cell research and genetic engineering are especially controversial issues directly related to health science. Evidence based health care focuses on integrating research evidence with context and values to better guide policies and practice. An example of initiatives that take this approach to improve public health policy is the Evidence Informed Policy Network (EVIPNet) of the World Health Organization.