Thank you for visiting our website. We hope that the time you spend with us will not only be informative, but will also be educational and thought provoking.
Medicine and Medical Practice are composed of both the science of medicine, and there needs to be a proper balance between the two. Both are necessary to adequately care for the patient as a whole person. Just as artists see and approach their respective crafts differently, so do physicians. It simply means that physicians do things differently while staying within the generally accepted methods of medical practice. A physician must always remember that his or her foremost responsibility is to the well being of that patient.
Your physician is your medical advocate.
The Human is a physical, mental (psychological) and spiritual being. Our individuality lies such as personalities, preferences, religions and nationalities.
The spiritual aspect should be only between the individual and his/her concept of the Supreme Being. Obviously this will vary from person to person, family to family, nationality to nationality. But the whole of the person depends on the concept that an individual has a spiritual side which needs to be addressed and maintained.
The physical and psychological aspects are a little more defined and rigid in the approach to the healing and maintenance of the health of the patient. The approach to the physical is more defined and rigid in the approach to the healing and maintenance of the health of the patient. The approach to the physical is the more defined, with a considerable bent to medicine as it is presently being practices. The psychological (mental) health is more variable in its etiology (cause) due to the experiences, (trauma, rewards) genetics and environmental influences. Thusly, the approach to good mental health is not as rigid or structured as the approach to physical health. Both must be addressed simultaneously to varying degrees to obtain and maintain an optimum state of health.
Acute Care vs. Preventative Care
There is no question that medicine in the United States today is highly geared toward acute care, treating the disease after it has accrued and had been accurately diagnosed. American medicine is extremely proficient in providing acute care, but at great expense. This due, for the most part, to the great American attitude of developing a highly technological society and the free enterprise system that makes such accomplishments possible and profitable.
We have all heard expressions such “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” or that “a stitch in time saves nine”. It is cheaper to prevent a disease process than to try to cure it and/or pay for the ongoing residual disabilities associated with such things as cancer, heart and vascular diseases, osteoporosis and other preventable disease processes. Granted, not all persons are at equal risk for such processes. Some do not have the risk factors or (family) genetic factors that would predispose them to some of these disease processes. We all know of incidences of people who ignore good life style habits and live to a ripe old age. We also know of many more who had a very short life span due to not addressing the risk factors and life styles that could have prolonged their lives. Would it not make intellectual and financial sense to screen and identify those with risk factors for certain disease processes and expend time and money to educate and address the issues that would prevent the disease process? Those not at risk would not require the expenditures due to their lower risk status.
This concept would keep to a minimum the number of health care dollars spent, as well as decrease the number of dollars expended in treating those in need of acute care. One would have to realize that in a few years, the need for physicians would be reduced and there may even be some negative financial repercussions within certain medical specialties. The issue would have to be addresses eventually and somehow corrected. How, by inventing new diseases?
I realize that there are many people both inside and outside of medicine that would not agree with these concepts, but that is what makes horse races. -Don Bishop, D.O. M.P.H., FACOFP
"Treating people, not
symptoms"
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