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Medicine today is an integral part of our lives. When we are sick we hastily call our family doctor, go to the drugstore to purchase the medications we need and if something is radically wrong with us get a sick leave to be able to stay at home and get better. Have you ever thought that things were not always like that? Here are some interesting facts about the development and main kinds of present-day medicine.

The word medicine comes from the Latin “ars medicina”, meaning “the art of healing”. Medicine now is a profoundly scienctific activity, but you should also know that it is a type of art - the art of curing humans. The major tasks of present-day medicine is supporting and restoring health by means of prevention and treatment of different health disorders. Official medicine started as numerous healing arts and techniques based on traditional story-told non-scientific practices.

By the way, complementary medicine today has a definite power, too. Why, you might ask? You see, sometimes traditional medicine is unable to cure a long list of hard diseases and injuries such as cancers, diabetes, AIDS, autoimmune diseases, spinal injuries etc. The point is traditional medicine is perfect at finding out symptoms characteristic for certain health disorders and injuries and at prescribing medications and medical procedures able to abate the patient’s pain and suffering. But often it is unable of finding the reason why the health problem breaks out. On the contrary, complementary medicine still remembers that we possess intellect, body and soul. Anger and hate that you accumulate inside you alongside with negative emotions you face daily hurt your soul, stuff up your head and crush your body.

Unlike unsystematic approaches of healers, present-day medicine is empoweredl with health science, biomedical research and medical technology - it can diagnose and treat injuries and diseases of all types. As a rule it applies medication, surgery and some other forms of therapy. The main part of physicians try to remember how essential it is for the ill personality to feel care and compassion, to have a face-to-face contact with the MD, that is why they follow the strict set of rules known as bedside manner.

Many millennia ago our forefathers noticed that certain plants, animal parts and minerals help curing injuries and wounds and treat different health issues. It was not the knowledge for everyone - priests, shamans, healers and medicine men treated them as purely magical substances.
From ancient records we find out that medicine is a very old activity. Texts about ancient Egyptian medicine, Babylonian medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, classical Chinese madicine, ancient Greek and Roman medicine prove that even millennia ago some individuals tried to help others in getting well! Imhotep is the first name of the doctor preserved in the history of medicine. He was an Egyptian and lived about 3rd millennium BC! The fascinating fact is that ancient texts and encryptions tell us that many centuries ago there were dedicated medicinal treatment facilities for patients (like hospitals these days) and numerous surgical operations including aesthetic surgery!

You surely know that ancient Greek physician Hippocrates is considered to be “the father of medicine” for building rational approach to medicine. Hippocrates created the famous Hippocratic Oath for physicians. Believe it or not, it is still in use today, as relevant and wise as ever before! What is more, Hippocrates managed to perceive health issues as acute, chronic, endemic and epidemic. In addition to it, up-to-date MDs use numerous special words proposed by Hippocrates - relapse, resolution, paroxysm, peak, exacerbation, crisis, convalescence are only a few of them!

Surprisingly, the Western world did not develop eminent ideas of ancient doctors after the collapse of the Roman Empire and the onset of the Dark Ages. Eastern world, on the contrary, kept and supported the Greek and Roman ways in medicine. A notable Islamic doctor who made a great contribution to medicine, was Avicenna. He introduced the famous Cannon of Medicine.

Medical science interested Europe during the 14th and 15th centuries when deadly Black Death ravaged Europe killing up to 30-60% of its population. This incredibly dangerous pandemic made practitioners reject the ‘traditional authority’ approach to science and medicine and look for new decisions. Physicians like Ibn al-Nafis and Vesalius did a great job supporting or criticizing a number of approaches from the past.

But the new age of medicine launched in the 18th century when Edward Jenner invented the smallpox vaccine. Since then biomedical research has become one of the main proofs in medicine, while ancient traditions started fading. Around 1880 Robert Koch deciphered the transmission of diseases by bacteria and soon in 1908 Paul Ehrlich discovered the first antibiotics.

The 20th century was a real display of medical events and investigations. It is impossible to enumerate all the talented doctors whose innovations and experiments resulted in new treatments and the use of revolutionary medications!

Contemporary pharmacology inherited the old knowledge of herbalism and incorporated numerous ideas of the chemistry, but all the same, a long list of medicines are still derived from plants. For instance atropine used in ophthalmology and gastroenterology, ephedrine effective for people with asthma, warfarin used to prevent heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots, aspirin we take for a number of reasons, digoxin irreplaceable in cardiology and a number of other essential patients are received from plants. But the technology applied today is brand new! A number of drugs reduced their side-effects due to innovative ways of production and what is more, new pills are designed for complete compatibility with a human organism!

Today you don’t even have to queue up in the waiting room to get your prescription. You can easily find a good no prescription drugstore and enjoy immaculate support team and swift service! All you have to do is to orders high-quality cheapest drugs online available. You can chose to purchase brand pills or generic meds. They share the same formula and are equally effective, but the price of any generic medication is much more pleasant.

Up-to-date medicine can be named an evidence-based science, and unlike it was in ancient healing techniques its major purpose is exchanging information and clinical experience. The fact ramains that the ‘best practice’ approaches tend to suppress new ideas of treatment, that is why there many systematic medical reviews available.

Present-day medicine is first of all the activity where doctors personally assess patients to examine, diagnose and treat them. So, as you understand the famous TV diagnostic genius Gregory House is not a typical practitioner at all! When you call a doctor the standard procedure is like that:
- it starts with studying the patient’s medical history; then follows a detailed medical interview and a thorough physical examination. If necessary the examination is followed by medical tests - blood test, urine test, smear, biopsy etc. Please, keep in minds, it is very essential for the doctor to know every truthful sign and symptom - otherwise normal diagnosing is impossible! Stop being shy or squeamish when you see your practitioner - tell him or her everything that you find odd and alarming - that might be helpful. The medical appointment is wrote down in the special medical record and your personal medical history, which is a legal document.

The process of medical handling depends on the case. You stay at home if the case is simple and take the medicines prescribed by your doctor. Serious cases may take weeks and several specialists to cope with and the patient is likely to be hospitalized.

Medicine today is a part of health care system of every civilized country. It is important to ensure that every patient has access to medical care irrespective of the man or woman’s ability to pay for the service. That is why it is so vital to support state-owned and charitable hospitals and clinics.

The medical personnel consist not only of practitioners. Well-trained nurses, paramedics and emergency medical technicians help their personalities go the whole way through his or her case and recover as soon as possible. We cannot live without the service of radiographers, dietitians, surgeons, dentists, anaesthetists etc as well. The quality of national health service (NHS) depends exceptionally on the knowledge and practical skills of all these men and women. No wonder medical specialty in universities should meet the highest standards of education achievable! What is more, in all Western European countries, USA and other countries of the world a medical doctor must be licensed or registered before he or she can start medical practice. If the MD fails to use all his or her possibilities to help the patient, if he or she is careless or deliberately harmful, this doc can be charged of medical malpractice. You can find many cases when physicians were subjects to professional, civil or criminal sanctions. Fortunately, cases like that are seldom and as a rule individuals choose to be doctors because it is their calling! Who else but a willing creature agrees to deal with sick and unbearable patients for all the professional life!