Healthcare Provider

A healthcare provider studies, advises, and provides preventative, curative, rehabilitative, and promotional health services. They do this based on an extensive body of theoretical and factual knowledge in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases and other health problems.

A healthcare provider is also sometimes referred to as a health professional or health practitioner.

Healthcare providers consist of a large group of professionals including the following:

• generalist or specialist medical doctors
• nursing or midwifery professionals
• traditional and complementary medical professionals
• paramedical practitioners
• dentists
• pharmacists
• physiotherapists
• dieticians and nutritionists
• audiologists and speech therapists
• optometrists and ophthalmic opticians

Environmental and occupational health and hygiene practitioners, such as occupational hygienists or radiation protection officers, are also considered to be healthcare providers.

Healthcare providers may conduct research on human disorders and illnesses and the ways of treating them.