See the Medical Symbol Used Today

You have probably been seeing medical symbols all your life, but never really paid much attention. For example, most people are probably familiar with the caduceus. This is the symbol of the two serpents entwined around a rod which has wings. This is a medical symbol of the medical profession. If you were ina foreign country and couldn’t speak the language, but saw this medical symbol, you would know that symbolized a doctor was nearby.

But doctors are the only one with their own medical symbol. Pharmacists have the mortar and pestle they use as a medical symbol. The mortar is a bowl and the pestle is a heavy stick that is used to grind. This has been associated with pharmacists for year as they often had to crush up several ingredients in the mortar to prepare a prescription.

You may also have noticed the six-pointed blue star with a rod in the middle. This is called the Star of Life and is the medical symbol for emergency medical services (EMS) personnel. It was originally designed by the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The rod in the middle is actually the rod of Asclepius, the Greek demigod of medicine and healing. Each of the six branches on the star signifies a task of emergency workers: the first branch signifies the first rescuers on the scene, the second branch signifies dispatch being connected to the victims, the third branch signifies the first rescuers providing first aid, the fourth branch signifies the arrival of EMS personnel, the fifth branch signifies the transportation of the patient by EMS personnel, and the sixth branch signifies the specialized care provided by those at the hospital.

The nursing profession does not seem to have one standard medical symbol, although sometimes a lamp is used (to connote wisdom and enlightenment). Sometimes the symbol of a traditional nursing cap is used, but nurses rarely wear those caps today and that is associated with a female nursing uniform.