A medical treatment is any action by a health care professional or a person intended to help cure, improve or restore a patient’s health. It includes the administration of drugs, physical therapy and other therapies to alleviate symptoms or correct a disease or injury. Medical treatments also include non-surgical cosmetic procedures to enhance a patient’s appearance.
Medical science has contributed to a great deal of progress in treating diseases and illnesses. For example, antibiotics and vaccines have helped to shift the burden of illness from infectious, acute diseases to chronic, non-infectious conditions like heart and lung disease and AIDS. Many of these newer conditions are accompanied by a number of other problems including functional limitations, social support needs and cost issues that may have profound effects on the quality of life of patients and their families.
Medicine is a broad profession with many sub-specialties. Some examples are family medicine, general surgery and obstetrics/gynecology. Other specialties include hematology (blood diseases), neurology and renal medicine. Medical genetics, pharmacology and photobiology are related sciences that study the body’s responses to diseases and medical treatment.
Physicians are trained to use a variety of diagnostic procedures to help determine what is causing a person’s symptoms. These include blood and urine tests, X-rays, imaging technologies and physical examinations. They can also use other techniques to examine a patient’s internal structure and function such as endoscopic procedures which involve inserting a slender tube (endoscope) into the body to make a visual inspection (e.g. colonoscopy, gastroscopy and cystoscopy), bronchoscopy and laparoscopy (abdomen).
The most common therapeutic procedures are surgical, but some non-surgical therapies are also used. Some of these include acupuncture, massage therapy and various dietary treatments that may be helpful in relieving the symptoms of some diseases and conditions.
An ultraconservative view of ethics would reject the practice of physicians in a variety of ways such as prescribing contraceptive pills, performing abortions or circumcising boys. However, most modern societies provide access to high-tech medical care that is affordable or free for the majority of the population through universal health insurance or compulsory private or cooperative health insurance.
Nursing care, occupational and physical therapy as well as home care services are available to treat a wide range of medical problems. The growing elderly population will require increasing amounts of this type of care to manage chronic disease and recovery from surgeries or hospitalizations. This type of care is being provided by nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and social workers. However, the demand for this type of care is expected to grow faster than the supply. This is a major source of stress and conflict within medical communities worldwide. It will also contribute to the social stratification of society as richer people can afford more expensive healthcare options and poorer people have less access. This may lead to protests and political events. Some doctors have developed a philosophical approach to this issue called health promotion and disease prevention which emphasizes that the primary role of the medical profession is not to treat sickness but to enhance and protect human health.