The goal of medical treatment is to alleviate symptoms, cure disease or improve function and appearance. Depending on the condition, the treatment may be surgical, non-surgical or a combination of both. Surgical procedures are the oldest form of medical treatment and include open surgery, laparoscopy and endoscopic procedures (using a slender tube inserted into the body to perform visual inspection such as colonoscopies, gastroscopies and cystoscopies). Non-surgical therapeutic procedures include physical therapy, dietetics and psychotherapy.
Many diseases have painful or unpleasant symptoms, such as aches and pains, vomiting, dizziness and fatigue. However, some diseases cause no discomfort at all — for example, leprosy and syringomyelia, blindness, deafness and mental retardation. Nevertheless, it is possible to treat some diseases with drugs that suppress pain and other symptoms such as nausea and dizziness, but don’t cure the underlying disease.
Advances in medical science have shifted the burden of illness from infectious acute illnesses to chronic conditions like heart failure, diabetes and cancer. Unfortunately, despite the development of antibiotics, vaccines and better standards of living, many of these conditions are life-limiting, and most treatments are only “halfway technologies” that extend life but do not cure the illness.
The practice of medicine is regulated by national and international laws and codes of ethics. It is a profession that requires training, education and certification. Physicians must be truthful with patients and disclose all information relevant to the diagnosis and management of disease, including potential risks. In addition, physicians should respect the rights of their patients to make informed decisions and give due consideration to a patient’s beliefs and values.
Contemporary medicine is practised within health care systems that provide medical services in hospitals and in the community. In the United States, this includes primary care practices in offices and clinics, emergency departments, hospital medicine, surgical and endoscopy services, rehabilitation and hospice centers.
Various fields of research and specialization contribute to the broad spectrum of modern medicine. Biomedical engineering applies engineering principles to medicine, while biological sciences such as physiology and pathology are concerned with the normal functioning of organisms. Chemical sciences such as pharmacology and photobiology are also involved in medicine, while mathematical and computational sciences are used to develop new medical tools and models of disease.
Medical treatment is usually provided by doctors, although a growing number of medical treatments are being performed by nurses, dentists, pharmacists and other allied health professionals. There is growing concern that medical treatments are being offered without enough high-quality evidence of their effectiveness and safety. This is leading to calls for greater emphasis on randomized controlled trials of all clinical interventions. In addition, there is a need to focus on researching only those treatments that have proven benefits and are not likely to harm patients. Ideally, such studies should be independent of financial and political interests. Unfortunately, high-quality research is expensive and time-consuming to undertake. This has impeded progress on some important issues. A recent study found that only about one in 20 medical treatments is supported by high-quality evidence and that harms are not measured with the same frequency as benefits.