This model identifies health as the ‘absence of disease’ with specific focus on diagnosing and curing individuals with illnesses such as cancer. The different views which are associated with health results in many policies and practices of the National Health Service (NHS) being put in place. The biomedical model suggests that during times of illness, intervention from health care professionals is necessary. Not only this, but the biomedical model also suggests health is the reason for the absence of many life threatening diseases. It is argued by many sociologists the main purpose of health care is to cure disease through the use of scientifically tested methods purposely created to address diagnosed illnesses.
The Bio-medical model has several assumptions that are accurate; it defines health as a biological normality it also believes that illnesses and disease are caused by an identifiable factor such as a faulty gene or virus. The model believes that illness is a temporary condition producing a physical symptom and that it should be identified and classified by a medical official not a non-expert. It is common for the experts that follow the bio-medical model to focus solely on diagnosing the symptoms of their patient leaving no room for dispute between the doctor and the patient. Illness and disease has cures and treatments usually from removing the cause, medicine is seen as the way to solve health problems, and the health of society is seen as dependant on the state of medical knowledge and the availability of medical resources. The main strengths of the bio-medical model is that it stresses the importance of trying to find the cause of illness and disease; there is a wealth of evidence that support the bio-medical approach, including successful operations, cancer screenings and immunisation programmes.
The Western scientific approach to medicine bases on these main features, focusing on the abnormalities in the body, biological factors explain the illness, it examines the cause of ill health through observations and tests, trained health professionals are the ones able to identify and treat the illness, emphasising different treatments medications and other interventions. Health care environments are appropriate places to undergo treatments and the model specifically states that illness is regarded as a temporary condition which can be reversed by the intervention of medical expertise. The bio medical model relates to the functionalist approach of health as it specifies that health is the absences of disease and it’s regarded as dysfunctional for the society as individuals cannot make positive contribution to the running of society. The model does not consider the social and environmental factors of ill health but relays on the scientifically methods to address and diagnose the illness if the illness cannot be diagnosed the individual would be labelled as malingering meaning one will be pretending to be ill for
Lewin talks about a number of conditions that humans commonly suffer from. He believes that human beings and their illnesses are the products of a long evolutionary history. Because of this, Lewin considers modern medicine as deterrence to human evolution and scientists and doctors should combine the idea of evolution and medicine to create revolutionary treatments he calls “Darwinian medicine”. It is difficult to determine whether the concept of Darwinian medicine holds any weight in the medical world. Lewin’s theory suggests infection, trauma, and genetic diseases should be left untreated in order to help the human body fight and respond naturally; doctors should only intervene if necessary.
It also tends to rely upon a diagnosis being made, most probably by a member of the medical profession. If we are unaware that we have a disease or if this disease has not been diagnosed, does it mean that we are healthy? (Aggleton 1990) The concept of the power of medicine stems from the biomedical model of health, which originated from the work of Rene Descartes. He suggested that the
The Holistic Medicine intends to restore health and wellness to the person as a whole, rather than rectifying the diseased part alone. On the other hand, traditional allopathic medicine focuses on the diseased part of the human beings. So, a physician committed to Holistic Medicine is expected to understand physical, mental, social and spiritual aspects of the individual’s life. Holistic medical practitioner sees his patients multi-dimensionally and tries to fix the whole body. On the contrary, the doctor carrying out traditional allopathic medicine will consider the affected body parts.
The secondary level of health promotion involves early diagnosis and rapid intervention to decrease the progress of any disease process. The primary goal of health promotion at the secondary level is to prevent any disability and maintain optimal health through health screening and early
Unit 9 Introduction of Complementary Therapies these are: Acupuncture, chiropractice and Biodynamic massage. In this report I am going to be discussing 3 different types of complementary therapies Conventional Therapies are ‘Western medicines’; complementary therapies are used along side conventional therapies and alternative therapies are used instead of conventional therapies Conventional Therapies are evidence based medicine meaning they have scientific proof that they work. They have been proven in scientific studies by carrying out experiments and observations, which provide evidence that they help fight of diseases such as cancer and diabetes. Double blind trails are often used in testing new drugs. There are two different groups
Models of Health According to the World Health Organisation, “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” (World Health Organisation, 2011) There are two main models of health which reflect different perspectives. These models are known as the social model of health and the medical model of health. The medical model of health focuses more on the cure for an illness, whereas the social model of health concentrates on the origins of the illness rather than the cure such as class, gender and ethnicity. (HSC, 2009) In the medical model of health, the main focus is on a person functioning correctly physically and defines bad health and illness as the presence of disease. The medical model looks at the body as a machine, where if it were to break down, a doctor would take on the role of an engineer and attempt to fix it.
Reflecting the distinction between 'objectivist' and 'subjectivist' approaches to science, the idiographic and the nomothetic represent two contrasting approaches to study methods. Idiographic approaches argue that the ultimate goal of science is to explain individual events; general laws and theories are useful insofar as they help us understand a particular event. By copntrast, nomothetic approaches argue that the ultimate goal is to uncover general truths that cover classes of occurrence. Here, individual instances are of interest primarily as guides in developing a broader understanding. Clinical medicine is largely an idiographic pursuit, and the doctor’s commitment is to the individual patient.