1.
medical department; clinical specialty
A division of a hospital or clinic organized around a medical specialty, such as internal medicine, pediatrics, or orthopedics. The term appears on hospital directories, signage, and insurance paperwork to direct patients to the appropriate doctor.
診療科を選ぶ。
To choose a medical department.
この病院には二十の診療科がある。
This hospital has twenty medical departments.
症状に合った診療科を受診してください。
Please consult the medical department that matches your symptoms.
Compound of 診療 ('medical examination and treatment') and 科 ('department; section'). The 科 element is the same suffix seen in school subject names like 理科 and in other institutional divisions; here it designates the medical specialty each department covers.
USAGE:
- When patients make an appointment or visit reception, they are usually asked which 診療科 they wish to see.
- Hospital websites list available departments under a 診療科一覧 ('list of departments') menu.
- 総合診療科 ('general medicine department') exists at larger hospitals for patients who are unsure which specialty fits their symptoms.
COMMON DEPARTMENTS:
- 内科: internal medicine
- 外科: surgery
- 小児科: pediatrics
- 産婦人科: obstetrics and gynecology
- 眼科: ophthalmology
- 耳鼻咽喉科: otolaryngology (ENT)
- 整形外科: orthopedics
- 皮膚科: dermatology
- 精神科: psychiatry
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 診療科一覧: list of departments
- 診療科別: by department
- 診療科を受診する: to consult a department
- 該当の診療科: the relevant department
SIMILAR WORDS:
- 科: department; field — used as a suffix (e.g., 内科), rarely standing alone in the medical sense.
- 病棟: hospital ward — a physical ward within a hospital, not a clinical specialty.
- 専門医: specialist doctor — a doctor certified in a specific 診療科.