MEDICINE IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES: IT’S NOT THE SAME

 

ВИДИ ЗАХВОРЮВАНЬ

Medicine is a field of applied science related to the art of healing by diagnosing, treatment, and prevention of diseases. The word “medicine” is derived from the Latin “ars medicina”, meaning the art of healing.

Medicine varies from culture to culture. If you go to doctors in Germany, France, England and the United States with the same set of symptoms, you’ll likely receive four different treatments, and maybe even different diagnoses. A patient with fatigue and dizziness, for example, may be given a liver tonic by a French doctor, while a German doctor would likely prescribe some heart medicine, an American doctor treats for a virus, and an English doctor does nothing at all. The basic medical philosophies underlying the practice in each country vary as well. Whereas the English and Americans tend to view illness as caused by an outside invader, the French and Germans are more likely to blame weakness in the body’s inability to heal. Here are some observations about each culture.

France. Poor health is seen by the French as a breakdown in the integrity of the body. Doctors in France are more likely to prescribe one of the “gentle therapies” – tonics, vitamins, a visit to a spa – than the dose of antibiotics. The French use less aggressive drugs than do Americans, and in smaller doses, and they perform fewer and more limited operations. Aromatherapy, the medical use of fragrant essential oils, is well suspected.

Germany. In Germany, the health is supreme. Although the death rate from heart diseases in Germany is no greater than in France or Britain, six times more heart drugs are sold there. German doctors are extremely enthusiastic about circulatory insufficiency as a diagnosis and they commonly prescribe drugs to raise low blood pressure. They also routinely prescribe digitalis to anyone over 60 whether the person has symptoms or not.

The German belief in nature as a healer leads to a reliance on alternative healing methods such as homeopathy and herbal medicine. German doctors prefer to work with the natural forces of the body. There were no antibiotics on a recently published list of the 20 most prescribed drugs in Germany.

England. The most striking characteristic of British medicine is its economy – British doctors do less of nearly everything. The British do fewer medical tests, spend less time with patients, prescribe fewer drugs, do less surgery, and express less interest in vitamins or tonics to build up resistance. British doctors always seem to consider the question, “Is this treatment better than doing nothing? ”

The United States. Americans, of course, favour action – any action – to fight off the foreign elements invading our bodies. American doctors do more diagnostic testing and often prefer surgery over drug therapy. When they do prescribe drugs, they choose stronger ones and use them in higher doses. American doctors are also more likely to overestimate the danger of doing nothing and underestimate the risks of treatment.