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Medicine today is an inalienable part of our lives. When we are ill we hastily call our family doctor, go to the drugstore to purchase the medicines 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 imagined that things were not always like that? Here are some stunning facts about the development and major sorts of up-to-date medicine.

The word medicine comes from the Latin “ars medicina”, meaning “the art of healing”. Medicine today is a completely scienctific activity, but you should also know that it is a type of art - the art of healing humans. The major tasks of contemporary medicine is maintaining and restoring health by means of prevention and treatment of different health disorders. Traditional medicine sprang up as numerous 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 horrible illnesses and injuries such as cancers, diabetes, AIDS, autoimmune diseases, spinal injuries etc. The point is traditional medicine is perfect at finding out symptoms typical for definite diseases and injuries and at prescribing medications 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 starts. 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 every day of your life damage your soul, litter your head and ruin your body.

Unlike chaotic approaches of healers, present-day medicine is empoweredl with health science, biomedical research and medical technology - it can diagnose and manage injuries and diseases of all types. As a rule it applies medication, surgery and some other forms of therapy. The main part of docs try to remember how essential it is for the ill personality to feel care and compassion, to have a personal contact with the physician, 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 healing injuries and wounds and overcome various illnesses. It was not the knowledge for everyone - priests, shamans, healers and medicine men treated them as 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 men and women 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 stunning fact is that ancient texts and encryptions tell us that so long ago there were dedicated medicinal treatment facilities for patients (like hospitals today) and numerous surgical operations including cosmetic surgery!

You surely know that ancient Greek doctor Hippocrates is believed to be “the father of medicine” for sticking to rational approach to medicine. Hippocrates invented 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, present-day doctors use many special words proposed by Hippocrates - relapse, resolution, paroxysm, peak, exacerbation, crisis, convalescence are only a few of them!

Surprisingly, the Western world did not support prominent 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 prominent 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 devastating 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. Practitioners like Ibn al-Nafis and Vesalius did a great job supporting or criticizing numerous approaches from the past.

But the new age of medicine launched in the 18th century when Edward Jenner discovered 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 illnesses by bacteria and soon in 1908 Paul Ehrlich discovered the first antibiotics.

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

Present-day pharmacology inherited the old knowledge of herbalism and incorporated a number of ideas of the chemistry, but all the same, a long list of pills are still derived from plants. For instance atropine used in ophthalmology and gastroenterology, ephedrine effective for personalities 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 people 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 medicines are designed for complete compatibility with a human body!

Today you don’t even have to stand in line in the waiting room to get your prescription. You can easily find a good online drugstore no 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 purchase brand drugs or generic medications. They share the same formula and are equally effective, but the price of any generic drug is much more pleasant.

Up-to-date medicine can be regarded as to 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 stifle new ideas of treatment, that is why there many systematic medical reviews available.

Up-to-date medicine is first of all the practice where doctors face patients to examine, diagnose and handle them. So, as you realize the famous TV diagnostic genius Gregory House is not a standard practitioner at all! When you see a MD the standard procedure is like that:
- it starts with studying the patient’s medical history; then follows a detailed medical interview and a careful 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 right diagnosing is impossible! Forget about being shy or squeamish when you visit your doc - tell him or her everything that you find strange and suspicious - that might be helpful. The medical appointment is documented 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 problem is simple and take the pills prescribed by your MD. Serious cases may take weeks and several specialists to handle and the patient is likely to be hospitalized.

Medicine today is a part of health care system of each powerful country. It is important 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 essential to support state-owned and charitable hospitals and clinics.

The medical personnel consist not only of physicians. Well-trained nurses, paramedics and emergency medical technicians help their men and women 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. That is exactly why 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 begin medical practice. If the MD fails to use all his or her possibilities to help the patient, if he or she is careless or intentionally harmful, this practitioner 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 people decide to be doctors because it is their vocation! Who else but a willing creature agrees to deal with ill and unbearable patients for all the professional life!