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Medicine today is an inalienable part of our lives. When we are ill we hastily call the ambulance, go to the chemistry to buy the meds we require and if something is radically wrong with us get a sick leave to be able to stay at home and get well. Have you ever imagined that things were not always like that? Here are some stunning facts about the development and main kinds of modern medicine.

The word medicine comes from the Latin “ars medicina”, meaning “the art of healing”. Medicine these days is a completely scienctific activity, but you should also remember that it is a kind of art - the art of healing humans. The major tasks of up-to-date medicine is maintaining and restoring health by means of prevention and treatment of various health issues. Usual medicine sprang up as a number of healing arts and systems 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 usual medicine is unable to cure many horrible illnesses and injuries such as cancers, diabetes, AIDS, autoimmune diseases, spinal injuries etc. The point is mainstream medicine is really good at finding out symptoms typical for certain health disorders and injuries and at prescribing medications and medical procedures able to lessen the patient’s pain and suffering. But often it is unable of finding the reason why the health problem breaks out. On the contrary, alternative medicine still remembers that we possess intellect, body and soul. Anger and hate that you hide inside you alongside with negative emotions you face day by day stain your soul, litter your head and ruin your body.

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

Many millennia ago our ancestores noticed that certain plants, animal parts and minerals help curing injuries and wounds and overcome various health issues. It was not the knowledge for everyone - priests, shamans, healers and medicine men believed them to be 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 demonstrate that even millennia ago some humans 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 shocking truth is that ancient texts and encryptions tell us that so long 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 believed to be “the father of medicine” for sticking to rational approach to medicine. Hippocrates introduced 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 see health issues as acute, chronic, endemic and epidemic. In addition to it, contemporary physicians use a number of special words invented by Hippocrates - relapse, resolution, paroxysm, peak, exacerbation, crisis, convalescence are only a few of them!

Surprisingly, the Western world did not support bright ideas of ancient doctors after the collapse of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Dark Ages. Eastern world, on the contrary, kept and supported the Greek and Roman ways in medicine. A prominent Islamic medical man who made a great contribution to medicine, was Avicenna. He wrote the famous Cannon of Medicine.

Medical science interested Europe during the 14th and 15th centuries when awful Black Death ravaged Europe killing up to 30-60% of its population. This awful pandemic made practitioners reject the ‘traditional authority’ approach to science and medicine and seek alternative decisions. Practitioners like Ibn al-Nafis and Vesalius did a great job developing or criticizing a number of theories from the past.

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

The 20th century was a real whirl of medical events and research. It is hard to enumerate all the outstanding doctors whose investigations and experiments led to new treatments and the use of revolutionary meds!

Modern pharmacology inherited the ancient knowledge of herbalism and incorporated numerous ideas of the chemistry, but nevertheless, a long list of medicines are still derived from plants. For instance atropine used in ophthalmology and gastroenterology, ephedrine effective for humans 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 personalities 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 meds are designed for complete compatibility with a human body!

Today you don’t even have to queue up in the waiting room to get your prescription. You can easily find a realiable online drugstore without prescription and enjoy immaculate support team and swift service! All you have to do is to orders high-quality affordable medicines available. You can chose to purchase brand medications or generic meds. They share the same formula and are equally effective, but the price of any generic drug is much more affordable.

Modern medicine can be regarded as to an evidence-based science, and unlike it was in ancient healing techniques its major purpose is sharing 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.

Modern medicine is first of all the practice where doctors face patients to examine, diagnose and treat them. So, as you realize the famous TV diagnostic genius Gregory House is not a mainstream practitioner at all! When you see a practitioner 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, remember, it is very important for the doctor to know every truthful sign and symptom - otherwise normal diagnosing is impossible! Forget about being shy or squeamish when you see your medical man - tell him or her everything that you find unusual 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 treatment depends on the case. You stay at home if the case is simple and take the pills prescribed by your physician. Serious cases may take weeks and several specialists to manage and the patient is likely to be hospitalized.

Medicine today is a part of health care system of each civilized country. It is essential 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 establish state-owned and charitable hospitals and clinics.

The medical personnel consist not only of doctors. Well-trained nurses, paramedics and emergency medical technicians help their humans 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 humans. 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 physician fails to use all his or her possibilities to help the patient, if he or she is careless or intentionally harmful, this doc can be charged of medical malpractice. You can find many cases when practitioners 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 nervous patients for all the professional life!