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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 chemistry to get the medicines we require and if something is radically wrong with us receive 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 main types of up-to-date medicine.

The word medicine comes from the Latin “ars medicina”, meaning “the art of healing”. Medicine today is a profoundly scienctific activity, but you should also know that it is a sort of art - the art of curing humans. The main functions of modern medicine is supporting and restoring health by means of prevention and treatment of various health issues. Usual medicine sprang up as a number of healing arts and techniques based on traditional story-told non-scientific practices.

By the way, alternative medicine today has a certain power, too. Why, you might ask? You see, sometimes traditional medicine is unable to cure many wicked health disorders and injuries such as cancers, diabetes, AIDS, autoimmune diseases, spinal injuries etc. The point is mainstream medicine is perfect at finding out symptoms characteristic for definite diseases and injuries and at prescribing meds and medical procedures able to abate the patient’s pain and suffering. But often it is unable of finding the reason why the health issue 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 day by day stain your soul, stuff up your head and destroy your body.

Unlike unsystematic approaches of healers, contemporary medicine is empoweredl with health science, biomedical research and medical technology - it can diagnose and manage injuries and diseases of all sorts. As a rule it applies medication, surgery and some other forms of therapy. The majority of medical men try to remember how important it is for the ill individual 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 ancestores noticed that certain plants, animal parts and minerals help healing injuries and wounds and overcome different health problems. 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 people 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 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 plastic surgery!

You surely know that ancient Greek doctor Hippocrates is believed to be “the father of medicine” for establishing 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 categorize illnesses as acute, chronic, endemic and epidemic. In addition to it, up-to-date physicians use many 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 practitioners 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 created the famous Cannon of Medicine.

Medical science returned to Europe during the 14th and 15th centuries when deadly bubonic plague 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 look for alternative ways out. Doctors like Ibn al-Nafis and Vesalius did a great job supporting or criticizing many theories from the past.

But the new age of medicine started 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 discovered the transmission of illnesses by bacteria and soon in 1908 Paul Ehrlich discovered the first antibiotics.

The 20th century was a real stream of medical events and research. It is impossible to enumerate all the famouse 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 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 humans are received from plants. But the technology applied today is brand new! A number of meds reduced their side-effects due to innovative ways of production and what is more, new medicines 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 no prescription needed and enjoy immaculate support team and swift service! All you have to do is to orders high-quality cheapest meds available. You can chose to take brand pills or generic pills. They share the same formula and are equally effective, but the price of any generic medicine is much more affordable.

Up-to-date medicine can be regarded as to an evidence-based science, and unlike it was in ancient healing systems its major purpose is sharing information and clinical experience. The point is 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 practice where doctors meet patients to examine, diagnose and handle them. So, as you guess the famous TV diagnostic genius Gregory House is not a usual practitioner at all! When you visit a MD the standard procedure is like that:
- it begins with studying the patient’s medical history; then goes 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 detail and symptom - otherwise right diagnosing is impossible! Forget about being shy or squeamish when you visit your physician - 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 get a sick leave if the issue is simple and take the meds prescribed by your practitioner. 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 each civilized country. It is important to ensure that every personality has access to medical care irrespective of the patient’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 physicians. Well-trained nurses, paramedics and emergency medical technicians help their humans 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 personalities. No wonder 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 begin medical practice. If the physician fails to use all his or her possibilities to help the patient, if he or she is careless or deliberately harmful, this physician 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 persons 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!