Draft:Original research/Medicine

A female doctor examines a child. Credit: United States Government.

"Medicine is the science and "art" of maintaining and/or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of patients."

It is usually practiced by Doctors, those with a medical degree. Medicine can be classified into various department varing on the nature of illness such as Oncology, Cardiology, Opthamology and Gynaecology.

Medical resources

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• Sexually transmitted diseases
• Cryonics

Theory of medicine

Def. a "substance which specifically promotes healing [when] ingested or consumed in some way", a "treatment or cure", or the "study of the cause, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of disease or illness" is called a medicine or medicine.

Biomedicine, also known as theoretical medicine, is a term that comprises the knowledge and research which is more or less in common with the fields of human medicine, veterinary medicine, odontology and fundamental biosciences such as biochemistry, chemistry, biology, histology, genetics, embryology, anatomy, physiology, pathology, biomedical engineering, zoology, botany and microbiology.

Biomedicine is usually not concerned with the practice of medicine as much as it is with the theory, knowledge and research of it; its results render possible new drugs and a deeper, molecular understanding of the mechanisms underlying disease, and thus lays the foundation of all medical application, diagnosis and treatment.

Medical disclaimer

Medical disclaimer: This page is for educational and informational purposes only and may not be construed as medical advice. The information is not intended to replace medical advice offered by physicians. Please refer to the full text of the Wikiversity medical disclaimer.

Remedy

Main resource: Remedy

Def. "a medicine, application, or treatment that relieves or cures a disease" is called a remedy.

Cures

Main resource: Cures

Def. a "method, device or medication that restores good health" or an act "of healing or state of being healed; restoration to health from disease, or to soundness after injury" is called a cure.

Health

Main resource: Health

Def. the "state of being free from physical or psychological disease, illness, or malfunction; wellness" or a "state of well-being or balance, often physical but sometimes also mental and social; the overall level of function of an organism from the cellular (micro) level to the social (macro) level" is called health.

Wellness

Main resource: Wellness

Physical exercise enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness by strengthening muscles and improving the cardiovascular system; there are four types of exercise: endurance, strength, flexibility, and balance.

Five elements should be considered in the workplace for wellness to make it a healthy working environment: work-life balance, health and safety, employee growth and development, employee recognition and employee involvement.

Workplace wellness programs can be categorized as primary, secondary, or tertiary prevention efforts, or an employer can implement programs that have elements of multiple types of prevention.

Companies often subsidize these programs in the hope that they will save companies money in the long run by improving health, morale and productivity, although there is some controversy about evidence for the levels of return on investment.

The controversy over wellness programs is rooted in a large and growing body of evidence proving that much of what has been claimed as outcomes has been fabricated, whereas in fact the industry's practices violate clinical guidelines and can and do harm employees.

Non-controversial examples of workplace wellness organizational policies include allowing flex-time for exercise, providing on-site kitchen and eating areas, offering healthy food options in vending machines, holding “walk and talk” meetings, and offering financial and other incentives for participation.

Biometric screening programs can help identify cardiovascular risk factors in clients, larger firms or businesses tend to facilitate more incidences of biometric screening programs which can be in part due to the amount of leadership support that is encouraged by company leaders and then received by employees. Also, putting more of an emphasis on building a more personalized experience is a major workplace wellness trend for 2018.

Workplace wellness programs have been shown not to prevent the major shared health risk factors specifically for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke.

While the stated goal of workplace wellness programs is to improve employee health, many US employers have turned to them to help alleviate the impact of enormous increases in health insurance premiums.

Some employers have also begun varying the amount paid by their employees for health insurance based on participation in these programs. Cost-shifting strategies alone, through high copayments or coinsurance may create barriers to participation in preventive health screenings or lower medication adherence for hypertension. While it was once believed that for every dollar spent on worksite wellness programs, medical costs fell by $3.27, that hypothesis was disproven by a subordinate of the author of the original study.

In 2000 the health costs of overweight and obesity in the US were estimated at $117 billion. Each year obesity contributes to an estimated 112,000 preventable deaths. Being overweight increases yearly per person health care costs by $125, while obesity increases costs by $395. A survey of North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services employees found that approximately 70 cents of every healthcare dollar was spent to treat employees who had one or more chronic conditions, two thirds of which can be attributed to three major lifestyle risk factors: physical inactivity, poor diet, and tobacco use. Obese employees spend 77 percent more on medications than non-obese employees and 72 percent of those medical claims are for conditions that are preventable.

Employers are encouraged to implement population-based programs including health risk appraisals and health screenings in conjunction with targeted interventions.

A large and growing body of research shows that workplace wellness has far more deleterious effects on employee health than benefits, and that there are no savings whatsoever. Indeed, the most recent winner of the industry's award for the best program admitted to violating clinical guidelines and fabricating outcomes improvement.

Genomic expressions

The health of an individual may be a direct product of successful, ongoing genomic expression. Such expression if free from physical or psychological disease, illness, or malfunction may constitute wellness.

Some individuals possess genetic mutations that may at onset produce symptoms indicating a variation from wellness even though these expressions are successful. That same individual in turn may possess expressions that minimize any harmful effects from these mutations or their successful expression.

Disease induced genomic expressions

Patients who have pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma show an overexpression of A1BG in pancreatic juice.

The alpha-1-glycoprotein is upregulated 11-fold in the urine of patients who have steroid resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS). A1BG was present in 7/19 patients with SRNS and was absent from all patients with steroid sensitive nephrotic syndrome. The 13.8 kDa A1BG fragment had a high discriminatory power for steroid resistance in pediatric nephrotic syndrome, but is only present in a subset of patients.

Legal restrictions

Painted by Toulouse-Lautrec in the year of his own death is an examination in the Paris faculty of medicine, 1901.

"Since the 19th century, only those with a medical degree have been considered worthy to practice medicine. Clinicians (licensed professionals who deal with patients) can be physicians, physical therapists, physician assistants, nurses or others. The medical profession is the social and occupational structure of the group of people formally trained and authorized to apply medical knowledge. Many countries and legal jurisdictions have legal limitations on who may practice medicine."

"In most countries, it is a legal requirement for medical doctors to be licensed or registered. In general, this entails a medical degree from a university and accreditation by a medical board or an equivalent national organization, which may ask the applicant to pass exams. This restricts the considerable legal authority of the medical profession to physicians that are trained and qualified by national standards."

"It can also act as a form of economic rent which might help to drive up the cost of medical care, in countries where that may be a factor."

"It is also intended as an assurance to patients and as a safeguard against charlatans that practice inadequate medicine for personal gain. While the laws generally require medical doctors to be trained in "evidence based", Western, or Hippocratic Medicine, they are not intended to discourage different paradigms of health."

"In the European Union, the profession of doctor of medicine is regulated. A profession is said to be regulated when access and exercise is subject to the possession of a specific professional qualification. The regulated professions database contains a list of regulated professions for doctor of medicine in the EU member states, EEA countries and Switzerland. This list is covered by the Directive 2005/36/EC."

Practices

Main resources: Incomes/Practices and Practices

This is a painting by Samuel Luke Fildes of a doctor studying a patient. Credit: Samuel Luke Fildes, 1891.

The current "practice of medicine occurs at the many interfaces between the art of healing and various sciences. Medicine is directly connected to the health sciences and biomedicine. Broadly speaking, the term 'Medicine' today refers to the fields of clinical medicine, medical research and surgery, thereby covering the challenges of disease and injury."

Malpractices

Main resources: Wrongdoing/Malpractices and Malpractices

"Doctors who are negligent or intentionally harmful in their care of patients can face charges of medical malpractice and be subject to civil, criminal, or professional sanctions."

Hypotheses

Main resource: Hypotheses

1. A control group is needed to evaluate physicians.

See also

• Animal physiology (8 kB) (3 December 2019)
• Control group (41 kB) (24 November 2019)
• Electrocardiogram (10 kB) (31 October 2019)
• Genetics (20 kB) (5 November 2019)
• Heredity (11 kB) 21 March 2018 - (18 December 2019)
• Laws (11 kB) (1 February 2020)
• Literature (43 kB) (19 January 2020)
• Medical Research (5 kB) (23 July 2019‎)
• Medicine (18 kB) (14 August 2019)
• Medicine dominant groups (14 kB) (5 January 2019)
• Melanocytes (49 kB) (24 January 2020)
• Orthomolecular medicine (8 kB) (18 September 2019)
• Osteoarthritis (12 kB) (31 August 2019)
• Psychiatry (5 kB) (5 January 2019)
• School:Medicine (10 kB) (30 June 2019)

Further reading

• R. A. Bailey (2008). Design of comparative experiments. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-68357-9. http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521683579. 

External links

• WikiDoc The Living Textbook of Medicine