Last Updated Nov 2010
What would the country doctors of yesteryear say if they could see us now? Would those old time heroes who drove horse and buggy (over hill and dale) to visit their patients be amazed at our progress? I think they would. And rightly so!
The antiquated home remedies of the nineteenth century are now passé’. We laugh when we hear stories of the concoctions, the treatments and the horrific surgeries performed on our ancestors. It’s a wonder anyone lived to talk about it and yet, they did.
One hundred years ago, no one could have imagined that integrated health in the twenty first century would not only involve nurses and nursing care. but would include specialties like respiratory therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy. Our highly developed system now incorporates chiropractic medicine and the philosophies of Eastern medicine. Meditation, Yoga, and acupuncture are practiced by hundreds of thousands of people. Hypnosis and the use of herbal therapies are quickly becoming popular as well.
The World Health Organization defines our present system of patient care as “the management and delivery of health services so that clients receive a continuum of preventive and curative services, according to their needs over time and across different levels of the health care system.” What a mouthful and yet, it defines our health care today …to a tea!
We are finally becoming cognizant of the fact there are many roads to take for health and well being. There is no longer just one way of providing patient care. We must be open to other therapies, other ideas and other opinions. No longer can a doctor …even one who has specialized in a particular field of medicine…be the one and only clinician involved in patient care. We are too smart for that now.
We have traveled far to arrive at our present day integrated health care system. We have made great strides; never before in the history of medicine have so many options been available for patients. And it is only the beginning! As the poet, Robert Frost penned, “We have miles to go before we sleep…and miles to go before we sleep.”
Would those practitioners of years gone by be proud of us today? Would they give us all a thumbs up if they could observe the unparalleled teamwork now associated with patient care? I think they would. How could they not? It is integrated, progressive and totally amazing!
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