Clinical Physiology

Clinical Physiology is a medical academic discipline and a clinical medical specialty for physicians in the health care systems in Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Aside from being a medical specialty, clinical physiology can be broadly defined as the application of the knowledge of human physiology to patients in a health care setting. As a specialty for medical doctors, Clinical Physiology is a diagnostic specialty to which patients are referred to undergo specialized tests of functions of the heart, blood vessels, lungs, kidneys and gastrointestinal tract, but also other organs. Testing methods include evaluation of electrical activity (e.g. electrocardiogram of the heart), blood pressure (e.g. ankle brachial pressure index), air flow (e.g. pulmonary function testing using spirometry) or different movements, velocities, or metabolic processes that can be measured by imaging with ultrasound including echocardiography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), x-ray computed tomography (CT), and nuclear medicine scanners such as single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) or positron emission tomography (PET) with or without CT.

Human physiology is the study of bodily functions, and Clinical Physiology examinations typically involve assessment of functions as opposed to only assessment of structures and anatomy. The specialty also encompasses the development of new physiological tests for medical diagnostics. Some departments also perform test from related medical specialties including Nuclear Medicine, Clinical Neurophysiology or Radiology. In the health care systems of other countries, the tests performed in Clinical Physiology are often performed by the various organ specialties in Internal medicine, such as Cardiology, Pulmonology, Nephrology, etc. In addition to being referred to as "The Department of Clinical Physiology," departments within healthcare conducting Clinical Physiology tests may alternatively be referred to as "The Physiology Clinic" or "The Physiology Lab".

In Australia, Clinical Physiology is not a medical specialty for physicians, rather, a Clinical Physiologist is a term used to refer to an allied health professional or technologist who may work as a cardiac scientist, vascular scientist, respiratory scientist, or sleep scientist. They also aid in the diagnosis of disease and manage patients, putting an emphasis on understanding physiological and pathophysiological pathways.