Bidhya Khadka
Sarah Frazier
ENG 100
26 April 2017 Modern Medicine
“Modern medicine is a form of drugs or remedy that helps to prevent, treat and ease the symptoms of disease in a modern way which, make sure to meet modern safety and efficiency standards” (“Modern Medicine”). It evolves to solve the problems of the society in a short time using the scientific method and research. It is capable of advanced diagnosis which helps to make good health in a short period without any side effects. It follows the scientific method of treating, diagnosing and even preventing illnesses using improved sophisticated technology. The mode of treatment involves a variety of methods, exercise,
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One single mistake by them can take the patient’s life. Similarly, if the doctor prescribed the wrong medicine or the wrong dosages of medicine, it might become the route of various diseases (“What are the dangers from using drugs?”).
In addition, because of advanced technology, the cost of modern medicine is way more expensive that minority of people cannot afford. Long-term use of modern medicine has side effect like nausea, vomiting, skin allergies, etc. It can create toxicity which directly affects the immunity system in the body. For example, modern medicine like aspirin that reduces blood from clotting, which helps to cut the risk of the death, but it has side effects like it might cause the stomach irritation and bleeding. Doctors use an X-ray machine to show injuries and disease from the body. X-ray is a type of radiation that may increase the risk of cancer, heart disease due to the exposure to radiations while identifying the main causes of other diseases (“What are the dangers from using drugs?”).
On the other hand, it has many advantages in improving the human health. The main aim of practicing modern medicine is to eliminate the signs and symptoms of diseases, people who have a disability. For instance, normally doctors prescribed drugs for reducing fever, reducing the discomforts of the patient and observing the healing speed. They eliminate under control and uncomfortable signs and symptoms that help a patient
Accompanying with the enormous technological progress, medicine as a modern science has been affected in many positive ways. However, the timeless tradition and the everlasting secret of medicine is merely care giving. Modern medicine has been relying too much on technology, which is cool, but also very cold from a humanistic aspect. All the patients are presented by a series of numbers via binary signals of the internet. Nowadays, medicine is more about running tests and diagnosing based on numbers, as opposed to investigating symptoms upon the physician’s observational skills and comprehensive knowledge. As bedside caring becomes less concerned as it was in the old days, the diminishing of the sense of caring in medical professionals appears as a side effect. There is no doubt that technology enables medical professionals to perform all types of fancy tasks, though it is their offering of compassion that comforts the patients the most. And this quintessence of medical practice ought not to be overlooked at any point of the history of medicine.
Atul Gawande in his article “When the Doctor Makes Mistakes” exposes the mystery, uncertainty and fallibility of medicine in true stories that involve real patients. In a society where attorneys protect hospitals and physicians from zealous trials from clients following medical errors, doctors make mistakes is a testimony that Gawande a representative of other doctors speak openly about failures within the medical fields. In this article, Gawande exposes those errors with an intention of showing the entire society and specifically those within the medicine field that when errors are hidden, learning is squelched and those within the system are provided with an opportunity to continue committing the same errors. What you find when you critically analyse Gawande, “When Doctors Make Mistakes essay is how messy and uncertain medicine turns out to be. Throughout the entire article you experience the havoc within the medicine field as the inexperienced doctor misapplies a central line in a patient.
According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA 2009), the wrong route of administrating medication accounts for 1.3 million injuries each year. An article published in September issue of the Journal of Patient Safety estimates there are between 210,000 and 400,000 deaths per year associated with medical errors. This makes medical errors the third leading cause of deaths in the United States, behind that comes heart disease and cancer. To prevent medical errors always follow the Three Checks and most importantly the Rights of Medication Administration. The “Rights of Medication Administration” helps to ensure accuracy when administering medication to a patient. When administering medication the administer should ensure they have the Right Medication, Right Patient, Right Dosage, Right Route, Right Time, Right Route, Right Reason, and Right Documentation. Also remember the patient has the right to refuse, assess patient for pain, and always assess the patient for signs of effects.
- Even though the X-ray expose patient to harmful radiation it is used to see inside the human body and diagnose broken bones, gallstones and later tuberculosis.
Medical errors are avoidable mistakes in the health care. These errors can take place in any type of health care institution. Medical errors can happen during medical tests and diagnosis, administration of medications, during surgery, and even lab reports, such as the mixing of two patients’ blood samples. These errors are usually caused by the lack of communication between doctors, nurses and other staff. A medical error could cause a severe consequence to the patient in cases consisting of severe injuries or cause/effect any health conditions, and even death. According to recent studies medical errors are not the third leading cause of death in the United States. (Walerius. 2016)
The practice of medicine has been shaped through the years by advances in the area of diagnostic procedures. Many of these advances were made possible by scientific breakthroughs made before the 20th century. Modern medicine arguably emerged. Both normal and abnormal functions (physiology and pathology) were increasingly understood within smaller units, first the tissues and then the cells. Microscopy also played a key role in the development of bacteriology. Physicians started to use stethoscope as an aid in diagnosing certain diseases and conditions. New ways of diagnosing disease were developed, and surgery emerged as an important branch of medicine. Above all, a combination of science and technology underpinned medical knowledge and
The improvement of medicine over the course of the human successes gave great convenience to the people of today. Science has cured and prevented many illnesses from occurring and is on its way to cure some of the most dreadful and harmful illnesses. As the world modernizes due to the industrialization, so does the ways of medicine. Some cures are approached by chance, some, through intense, scientific measures.
A physician could make mistakes in prescribing, the pharmacy could send the wrong medication, but who actually gave it to the patient is accountable for the consequences. For this reason, it’s our responsibility to implement change in our practice based on the evidence in order to ensure safe patient care.
The higher incidence rate from the above suggested that the medication errors is an issue which is preventing the quality service. The puzzle often starts with whose problem is it. the medication error is the problem of all health care professionals and due to this errors the patients has to suffer. While discussing or thinking about an issue, possible solution is already on its way. But the
Medication error is one of the biggest problems in the healthcare field. Patients are dying due to wrong drug or dosage. Medication error is any preventable incident that leads to inappropriate medication use or harms the patient while the medication is in the control of the health care professional,or patient (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2015). It is estimated about 44,000 inpatients die each year in the United States due to medication errors which were indeed preventable (Mahmood, Chaudhury, Gaumont & Rust, 2012). There are many factors that contribute to medication error. However, the most common that factors are human factors, right patient information, miscommunication of abbreviations, wrong dosage. Healthcare providers do not intend to make medication errors, but they happen anyways. Therefore, nursing should play a tremendous role to reduce medication error
Albeit some problems like headaches, acne, and allergies are not life threatening, times of crisis in which life hangs require more drastic medicine. Cancer patients have hope because medicine has provided a number of potential treatment options such as radiation therapy, surgery, and immunotherapy. Today, a cancer diagnosis is no longer synonymous with a death sentence. Furthermore, individuals with diseases or deformities that previously caused premature death now have normal life expectancies thanks to medicine. In fact, since 1950, the average lifespan in the United States has increased by over ten years as a result of medical advancements (“Medical”). Even in the wake of tragic incidents like a car accident or shooting, medicine can heal the extensive damage and give people another chance to live. A stroll through any hospital will quickly reveal the true definition of medicine.
Over the course of many centuries, medical technology has developed to a great extent. Studies show that recent equipment has evolved more in the last ten to twenty years than in the past thousand years. Before human time, people learned to treat themselves by just using natural substances. Now-a-days, our hi-tech systems in the medical field have been created for the most effective tools for a high level of patient care. While they advance the tools, it will then allow for quicker diagnosis, less pain, and fewer costs, which in the end will help save more lives. Some people are accepting that modern technology can buy them more time to live while others might find it quite alarming because they fear
Western medicine is related to scientific method and emphasize measurable biochemical processes that drive disease, treatment and health. It relies on new modern technologies to alleviate disease and cure symptoms (“knowledgewharton”, n.d.)
Humans have been practicing medicine for over a million years. In order to understand how modern medicine gets to where is it today, it is very helpful to read about the history of medicine. According to the group parasites projects that we have done during the past semester, we studied different kinds of parasites and their influence on both patients and doctors aspects during different time periods. Through out the whole research, good medicines were found to have similar meanings - the practice of the diagnosis, knowledge of the disease, treatment and prevention, caring for patients and a dedication to their well-being.
In this essay I will describe what is meant by medicalization and in what ways we can consider the diseases to be socially constructed. History of medicalization from the 19th century onward, using the French example, as a frame of reference. The working hypothesis of the author is that modern medicine is social medicine, and therefore a social practice that has been developed in the capitalist society since the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, and this is responsible for three forms of medicine: State medicine, urban medicine and industrial medicine. He analyses each of these forms of medicine and it is relation to the current structure in Germany, France and England, and explains why a bureaucratized, collectivized and state-controlled system of medicine developed in Germany from the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century; urban medicine in France, based on methods of surveillance; and industrial medicine in England. Michel Foucault (2003). For this essay I will define the concept of medicalization, in particular, people brought their problems into the medical sphere. Also I will discuss what is meant by medicalization and in what ways we can consider the disease to be socially constructed.