Peer Responses:
Length: A minimum of 150 words per post, not including references
Citations need to be within 5 (Five) years
Context: Nursing in the USA
See the attached for the original assignment
T5 W7 D1 R1
Holistic medicine was the first accepted medicine beginning in about the 27th century BCE, when ancient Egyptians practiced medicine guided by the idea that disease can stem from either spiritual, physical, or mind/heart causes (Pederson, 2005).
The modern era of allopathic medicine began in Europe, around 14th century, when empirical evidence grew in importance among scientists (Pederson, 2005). Studies during this time led to the idea that the spirit and body function separately, which was largely cemented by the philosopher Descartes in the 1800s (Pederson, 2005). Descartes can be largely credited with popularizing a mechanistic view of the body as component parts, separate from the mind (Pederson, 2005). The American Medical Association was founded in 1848 based on these ideas (Pederson, 2005).
In 1874, Dr. Andrew Taylor Still starts promoting osteopathic medicine, an obvious throwback to holistic medicine, with the philosophy that all body systems are interrelated and dependent upon one another for good health (Pederson, 2005). In 1892, Dr. Still opens the first school of osteopathic medicine in Kirksville, Missouri (Pederson, 2005).
An offshoot of holistic care, homeopathic medicine, also known as alternative medicine or CAM, has thrived while allopathic and holistic models of medicine fought for cultural dominance in the US (Whorton, 2003). For thousands of years, Native Americans have practiced what would be called homeopathic medicine on American soil and, since the 1700s, others in the US and Europe have turned to other cultures and spiritual doctors (Koithan & Farrell, 2010 & Wharton, 2003). The search for homeopathic remedies has become so mainstream that, in 1992, the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM) was established within the Office of the Director of the National Institute of Health (NIH) to facilitate study and evaluation of complementary and alternative medical practices and to disseminate the resulting information to the public (National Institutes of Health, 2015). In 1998, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) was established by Congress, elevating OAM to the status of an NIH center, and in 2014 the NCCAM was renamed the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (National Institutes of Health, 2015) .
Allopathic, holistic, and homeopathic medicine are all methods of approaching health by a person or a community. Their various reigns as the prevailing medical philosophy have waxed and waned as cultures have changed and various studies have shown one to be superior to the other many times over. Today, these philosophies are practiced simultaneously with passionate, and sometimes overlapping, proponents of each.
All these philosophies have their detractors. Advocates of holistic health point out that practitioners of allopathic medicine often treat symptoms rather that the root cause of disease (Woods, 2017). While this is partly true in that allopathic providers might not delve into a persons life enough to find that their love of daily red meat is causing intestinal inflammation, it is likely that the practitioner would find the inflammation and deal with that issue (Harvard Medical School, 2018 & Woods, 2017). Detractors of homeopathic care highlight sensationalism and anecdotal evidence as not evidence-based (Woods, 2017). Denunciations of holistic care have mostly fallen to the wayside, with critique falling on methods and practitioners rather than the philosophical foundation (Woods, 2017).
Integrative medicine as created to bridge the gap between the allopathic and homeopathic approaches (Woods, 2017). Integrative medicine refocuses medicine on health and healing. It insists on patients being treated as whole personsminds and spirits, as well as physical bodies who participate actively in their own healthcare (Woods, 2017). Part of participating in ones own care may include homeopathic remedies, which are discussed with medical providers. This integrative method is also widely taught in medical schools, usually called patient and family centered care, and has become the prevailing medical attitude in todays society citing increasing staff satisfaction, decreasing costs, and improving patient outcomes as its largest benefits (Clay & Parsh, 2016).
References
Clay, A. M., & Parsh, B. (2016). Patient- and Family-Centered Care: It’s Not Just for Pediatrics Anymore. AMA Journal of Ethics, 18(1), 40-44. doi:10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.1.medu3-1601
Harvard Medical School. (2018, November 7). Foods that fight inflammation. Harvard Women’s Health Watch. Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/foods-that-fight-inflammation
Koithan, M., & Farrell, C. (2010). Indigenous Native American Healing Traditions. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 6(6), 477-478. doi:10.1016/j.nurpra.2010.03.016
National Institutes of Health. (2015, August 20). NIH complementary and integrative health agency gets new name. Retrieved from https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-complementary-integrative-health-agency-gets-new-name
The New Medicine [Television broadcast]. (2005, March 29). Twin Cities, MN: PBS.
Whorton, J. (2003, November 4). Countercultural Healing: A Brief History of Alternative Medicine in America. Frontline. Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/altmed/clash/history.html
Woods, M. (2017, February 23). Alternative vs. Traditional Medicine. Retrieved from https://www.winchesterhospital.org/health-library/article?id=13500
