Clinician

A clinician is a health care professional that works as a care giver of a patient in a hospital, skilled nursing facility, clinic, or patient's home. Clinicians work directly with patients rather than in a laboratory or as a researcher.[1] A clinician may diagnose, treat, and otherwise care for patients. For example, physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, clinical pharmacists, physician assistants, speech-language pathologists (SLP), and speech-language pathology assistants (SLPA) are clinicians. Midwives can be considered clinicians, although some midwives may emphasize de-medicalizing giving birth. Many clinicians take comprehensive exams to be licensed and some complete graduate degrees (master's or doctorates) in their field of expertise.

A main function of a clinician is to manage a sick person in order to cure the effects of their illness.[2] The clinician can also consider the impact of illness upon the patient and his family as well as other social factors.