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Medicine today is an integral part of our lives. When we are sick we hastily call our doc, go to the drugstore to buy the drugs we require and if something is radically wrong with us receive a sick leave to be able to stay at home and get well. Have you ever thought that things were not always like that? Here are some interesting facts about the development and major kinds of modern medicine.

The word medicine is derived from the Latin “ars medicina”, meaning “the art of healing”. Medicine today is a profoundly scienctific activity, but you should also remember that it is a kind of art - the art of curing humans. The major tasks of contemporary medicine is maintaining and restoring health by means of prevention and treatment of various illnesses. Official medicine sprang up as many 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 official medicine is powerless to cure a number of wicked diseases and injuries such as cancers, diabetes, AIDS, autoimmune diseases, spinal injuries etc. The point is usual medicine is really good at finding out symptoms characteristic for definite diseases and injuries and at prescribing medicines and medical procedures able to lessen the patient’s pain and tribulation. 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 have inside you alongside with negative emotions you have every day of your life stain your soul, stuff up your head and crush your body.

Unlike unsystematic approaches of healers, modern medicine is empoweredl with health science, biomedical research and medical technology - it can diagnose and handle injuries and diseases of all types. As a rule it applies medication, surgery and some other forms of therapy. The main part of MDs 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 practitioner, 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 diseases. It was not the knowledge for everyone - priests, shamans, healers and medicine men believed them to be purely magical substances.
From ancient records we learn 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 individuals tried to help others in getting well! Imhotep is the first name of the medical man 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 many centuries ago there were dedicated medicinal treatment facilities for patients (like hospitals today) and numerous surgical operations including plastic surgery!

You surely know that ancient Greek doctor Hippocrates is said to be “the father of medicine” for sticking to rational approach to medicine. Hippocrates invented the famous Hippocratic Oath for doctors. Believe it or not, it is still in use today, as relevant and wise as ever before! What is more, Hippocrates managed to classify health issues as acute, chronic, endemic and epidemic. In addition to it, modern practitioners 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 eminent ideas of ancient practitioners after the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Dark Ages. Eastern world, on the contrary, kept and developed the Greek and Roman ways in medicine. A notable Islamic medical man who made a great contribution to medicine, was Avicenna. He wrote the famous Cannon of Medicine.

Medical science returned to Europe during the 14th and 15th centuries when devastating bubonic plague ravaged Europe killing up to 30-60% of its population. This awful pandemic made physicians reject the ‘traditional authority’ approach to science and medicine and search for new ways out. Doctors like Ibn al-Nafis and Vesalius did a great job supporting or criticizing numerous theories 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 became a history. 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 whirl of medical events and research. It is hard to enumerate all the prominent doctors whose investigations and experiments resulted in 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 drugs are still derived from plants. For example atropine used in ophthalmology and gastroenterology, ephedrine effective for individuals 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 pills reduced their side-effects due to innovative ways of production and what is more, new drugs are designed for absolute 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 pharmacy without rx and enjoy immaculate support team and swift service! All you have to do is to orders high-quality affordable meds online available. You can chose to take brand meds or generic medications. They share the same formula and are equally effective, but the price of any generic medicine is much more pleasant.

Modern medicine can be regarded as to an evidence-based science, and unlike it was in ancient healing systems 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 numerous systematic medical reviews available.

Up-to-date medicine is first of all the activity where doctors face patients to examine, diagnose and handle them. So, as you guess the famous TV diagnostic genius Gregory House is not a typical practitioner at all! When you visit a physician the standard procedure is like that:
- it begins 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 essential for the doctor to know every truthful sign and symptom - otherwise normal diagnosing is impossible! Stop being shy or squeamish when you visit your doc - 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 medical handling depends on the case. You stay at home if the issue is simple and take the pills prescribed by your physician. Serious cases may take weeks and several specialists to handle and the patient is likely to be hospitalized.

Medicine these days is a part of health care system of each civilized country. It is vital to ensure that every person has access to medical care irrespective of the man or woman’s ability to pay for the service. That is why it is so important to support 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 personalities go the whole way through his or her case and get well 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. That is exactly why medical specialty in universities should meet the highest standards of education possible! 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 negligent or deliberately harmful, this MD 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 men and women choose to be doctors because it is their vocation! Who else but a willing creature agrees to deal with sick and unbearable patients for all the professional life!