How the Medicine Atlas Sorts Its Subjects

Primary care specialties are sorted by the scope of care given, not a single organ or procedure: family medicine, general internal medicine and pediatrics belong here because each provides first-contact, continuing and comprehensive care across the whole life span, while a subspecialty such as cardiology is grouped under internal medicine subspecialties instead.

Hospitals and medical centers are sorted by current function, not history or renown: a working hospital providing clinical care today belongs here, while one notable chiefly as a historic institution is grouped separately under historic and premodern hospitals, and an institution whose primary identity is research or education is grouped by that function instead.

Bodies such as the American Medical Association and the General Medical Council belong here because they represent, license, certify or set standards for the medical profession itself, rather than treating patients or conducting research directly; an international public health agency setting policy for populations is grouped separately.

Antibiotics, antiretroviral therapy, insulin therapy and statin therapy belong here as drug or biologic treatments given systemically, while chemotherapy and radiotherapy are grouped separately under oncologic therapy because their organizing principle is the cancer indication rather than the drug class.

Germ theory of disease, the discovery of Helicobacter pylori as a cause of peptic ulcer disease, and the discovery of streptomycin and penicillin all belong here because each identified bacteria as a cause of disease or produced an antimicrobial agent to treat one, distinct from a discovery about a virus or parasite instead.

Following ICD-10 Chapter I, a disease defined by its causative pathogen and its transmission, tuberculosis, malaria or a viral hepatitis, belongs here, while an infection classified by the organ system it damages once established, such as a bacterial pneumonia, is grouped under diseases of the respiratory system instead.

Following ICD-10 Chapter II, any cancer or tumor named for its tissue of origin or its malignant behavior, a carcinoma, sarcoma or leukemia, belongs here, while a genetic syndrome that only predisposes to cancer without itself being a neoplasm is grouped under congenital malformations and chromosomal abnormalities.

Following ATC Group J, an antibiotic, an antiviral, an antifungal or an antimalarial that acts throughout the body belongs here, each named for the class of organism it targets, while a topical antiinfective applied only to the skin does not.

Following ATC Group L, a chemotherapy agent that kills or slows cancer cell growth, a hormone antagonist used against a hormone-sensitive cancer, and an immunosuppressant used to prevent transplant rejection all belong here, distinct from an antibiotic grouped under antiinfective agents for systemic use.

Following ISCO-08 Minor Group 2211, Generalist Medical Practitioners, a physician recorded chiefly as a treating doctor belongs here, even one also noted as an inventor or researcher, unless a named surgical, laboratory or public health specialty already places them elsewhere.