What Value Is There To Home Remedies?
For as many illnesses as there are extant, there are just as many (if not more) home remedies used to help combat them. While many of these can be chalked up as old wives tales, is that true for all of them? That odd remedy that your grandmother swears by may actually be beneficial in treating certain illnesses after all.
So this begs the question of whether or not there is any merit to home remedies.
The plain answer is yes. Many home remedies are borne out of experience in patients feeling better after eating certain plants or herbs, or that performing certain actions help to get rid of illnesses faster. Let’s take a common example of “sweating out a fever”. Many people will actually pile on extra layers and get in bed under their covers to intentionally make themselves hotter during a time of fever. Many report getting over their illness faster this way. There is certainly some logic to it. Your body raises its temperature in order to attempt to kill the virus, and by making it hotter, you are assisting that natural process. Of course, if you overdo it, you’ll be needing to be taken away on a stretcher. But again, some merit there.
So just like with conventional medicines, these remedies need to be tested before one can speak of their efficacy. And people also need to be more responsible about passing these remedies around. Just because something worked for you that one time, doesn’t mean that it is a definitive cure that will work for all.
So don’t necessarily dismiss the remedies given to you by your granny, but don’t swallow them whole either. Do your own research and be the judge when applying a home remedy to yourself or anyone else.
Dental Manikins Make For More Experienced Dentists And Technicians
In the world of medical training, we know that the more tools you have with which to teach students, the better chance they have to become truly competent doctors. That’s why there are all sorts of training aids available. Photos, illustrations, video, multimedia, interactive programs, and medical manikins are all part of the arsenal of training medical professionals. But of all of those, manikins are probably the most important because they fully can represent the human body, in the real world.
That is why these manikins also exist for dentists as well. Usually, these dental manikins will only consist of a head complete with a full set of teeth which can be removed for practice. This helps dental students learn to identify all of the different teeth, and also practice positioning themselves and the patient for tooth extractions. The benefits of using this type of medical tool are numerous.
By giving students 3d representations of patient bodies (or parts thereof), you can create doctors who already have had some form of hands on experience before they ever set finger on an actual living person. That means they will already have some experience and things will go better for the patient.
As medical technology continues to evolve manikins will get more and more advanced. They will include more elements to make the more lifelike, they will be able to react to the things that the student doctor or dentist does. And they will allow for a wider variety of practice procedures meaning more training will be available.
These tools really do represent the future of medical education. As we gather more and more knowledge and theory of medicine, we will need to supply more practical assignments and practice, and that is exactly what medical manikins provide.
What Is Alternative Medicine?
Typically, when one thinks of alternative medicine, one thinks of treatments and remedies that you won’t find at your local doctor’s office. Things like herbal remedies, acupuncture, yoga and others. However, the term itself, “alternative medicine”, may be a bit of a misnomer.
Case in point, it means different things and includes different forms of medicinal practices depending on who you ask. Ask a Chinese medicine man, and you will find that some western practices would be considered alternative by him. Generally speaking, when we think of western medicine, we think of scientific and laboratory based practices (and the things you’d find here). Things like drugs, surgery and the like. While this is true, there is a point to be made, and that is that most all practices have undergone some testing by this point. But while validity may be given (or taken away) from practices from either camp, little change can be seen within either community.
This video from Healthcare Triage breaks this down very well:
Taking Care Of Yourself
You will frequently have people telling you to ensure that you take care of yourself. Either seriously or as parting words. But while some of do heed them, there are those that don’t really pay much attention to their own care and well being. Or, some will try to take care of themselves, but don’t have the proper know-how and neglect certain aspects.
Taking good care of yourself isn’t all that hard. In fact, there are only a few things that you need to do and keep in mind:
- Get exercise. A lot of us tend to neglect this one, but your body does a lot better with a little bit of exercise each day. Even just a 15 minute walk can be enough. No need to spring for a gym membership right away.
- Take vitamins. Our diets sometimes only consist of what is available at the time. So it is easy to become deficient in certain vitamins. A daily multivitamin will help to keep your body full of the proper nutrients. This is no substitute for…
- Eating healthy. Good foods nourish the body and are essential to good health. Although sometimes it is hard, if you take care, you can prepare quick and easy healthy meals for yourself.
- Finally, keep clean. Regular bathing and washing of your hands keeps germs away and promotes good health. You are prone to more infections and bacteria when you are dirty so keeping clean is a must.
As you can see, none of these are all that difficult to put into practice. Obviously getting regular check-ups from your doctor would be advised as well. So realistically, there is almost no reason that everyone can’t take proper care of themselves, no matter how busy they may be. It is better to keep in good physical shape now than end up being feeble later in life, needing a stair chair to get up and down your own home!
Making Medicine More Sanitary
One of the problems that plagued medicine from yesteryear was that many patients would spread their germs to other patients. And it often wasn’t the patient’s fault, but the doctor’s! In actual fact, early surgeons used to use the same tools and rags from one operation on other patients, without proper sterilization. This would result in a tremendous amount of infection. So many times, while the surgery itself was successful, the resulting infection would kill the patient. Thankfully, today we are not in the same position.
Starting in the 1800’s, sterilization began gaining ground. People like Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch pioneered various sterilization processes which led to methods that are still in used today. And while sterilizing medical instruments is still done and is necessary, there are still other alternatives for helping to prevent the spread of infection.
Disposables are another great way to stop germs from spreading from patient to patient. Stored in a sterile container, these items are used once, and then thrown away, with all the germs they may now be in contact with. These disposables are widely available at places like https://wwemsequip.com/.
Finally, there comes understanding how infections spread, and the taking of common sense precautions against them. Knowing that surfaces frequently touched need to be frequently cleaned, not allowing tools to be reused without proper cleaning (hands too for that matter), and keeping patients isolated if they have something that is highly contagious all help to prevent infections from spreading and harming others.
Thanks to modern medicinal procedures, we now don’t have to worry as much about infections (at least not those encountered in hospitals and clinics).
Spirituality in Medicine
One look at our current medical system (mainstream that is) and you’ll see a world dominated by science. Medical technology is used with a certain mathematical precision that is only found in engineering. From exact measurements, procedures and diagnoses, this is a very exacting field filled with pure calculation and lifelike accuracy (just look at these: https://wwemsequip.com/head-neck-anatomical-models-c2858)
So it would be hard to believe that it all evolved from a very spiritual school of thought. But that is actually the truth. If you look at early medicine, you’ll see that medicine and spirituality were at one time, inseparable.
Take a look at a primitive tribe. The “doctor” is actually a shaman, someone who is believed to be able to channel the spirits or at least their powers into healing the sick. For a long time, this was the extent of medical skill. Eventually, it would encompass using certain plants and herbs (which did have some value and was the basis for modern drugs) and slowly but surely, real workable technology evolved out of that.
But even today, there is still a spiritual side to medicine in the minds of many people. People still say prayers for their sick and injured loved ones. Whether this has any actual benefit physically speaking is not the subject of discussion, but it is interesting to see that a large amount of the population still mix the two (religion and healing).
Some will even go so far as to have religious beliefs affect their decisions in terms of health care. Many people don’t believe in vaccinations or other treatments from a purely religious standpoint. So while we may have come quite far in terms of the medical ability we now posses as a society, it’s funny to note how this can sometimes be mired down by spirituality.
The Disappearance of the Home Doctor Visit
Things are different nowadays. With population increases and infrastructure changes, we have to handle things differently as a society as we did in yesteryear. One of the things that has changed are the services you would get at home. Fresh milk is no longer delivered, the daily newspaper delivery is all but extinct, and perhaps one of the most significant, the home doctor visit has vanished.
There are plenty of good reasons for this. After all, when you cut out the doctor’s driving time, he is able to see more patients in a single day. By being established in an office or clinic, he has access to all of his supplies (cutting down on the need for return visits) and also a full staff. His assistants can do some of the simpler tasks allowing him to service even more people. All of these things sound good, but there are a few things that we lost when we lost the home visit.
For patients who are unable to easily move, the need for special transportation was created. Children will always feel more comfortable at home than in a sterile office. There is less risk of getting sick from other patients. And there is something comforting about seeing the doctor walk in with his medical bag in hand, in your home.
There actually are still services that provide in-home doctor visits in various cities, however, they can be prohibitively expensive, and you’re not necessarily going to get the same doctor every time. That means that you will always have a slightly different opinion and getting proper, dedicated care will be difficult. While it can be useful for certain situations and circumstances, it’s no replacement for the good old fashioned home visit.
With the progress and expansion of the future, we will surely miss out on some of the things that are only possible during a simpler time.
Portable Medical Equipment
Most doctors typically work in an office nowadays, and the home visit has become a thing of the past. However, there are some small towns that still have the traveling doctor who still goes door to door seeing patients. Actually, there is a bit of a resurgence in the area of home visits, with certain services popping up that offer doctors at your door. So if you should consider taking on some of this type of business and becoming an in-home doctor, then you’re going to need to carry your medical tools with you.
In addition to needing a medical bag to hold all your gear, you’ll need the equipment itself. You won’t do much good without your tools, now will you? So what kinds of tools can you bring with you? Well, let’s take a look.
Stethoscope: A staple and symbol of the medical profession. This can easily be taken with you pretty much anywhere.
Sphygmomanometer: Another vital tool. This will easily fit inside your medical bag. There are many kinds available and you may even opt for an automatic one if you trust the accuracy.
Otoscope and Opthalmoscope: For complete checkups, you’ll need these guys with you. Very often, they come in their own carrying case. There are even addons and apps that can turn your smartphone into one of these!
Prescription pad: Need I say more? Once you know what your patient needs, you’ll need to be able to write their prescription.
Blood collection kit: Sometimes a simple diagnosis isn’t possible without more information. A blood sample can shed light on underlying conditions and so you’ll need a way to collect and store it till you get it to a lab.
First aid supplies: You never know what you may find during a home visit, and you can’t bet on the patient having any necessary supplies to hand, so a full first aid kit should be part of your regular toolkit.
Another Word About CPR
In any field, it’s important to understand that the common ideas that many people hold about something may be quite far from the actual truth. Let’s take shooting as an example. All too many times we’ve seen action movies wherein the hero runs through a battlefield, picking off enemies left and right while running and dodging fire. In reality, no one’s aim is that good, and running through an open area is a fast way to get filled up with lead. So there is an obvious disconnect from what people have seen and expect, and what is reality. The same can be said about CPR.
In most movies and programs, when the victim has CPR given them, it only takes a moment or two before they regain consciousness and awareness. I wish that were the case, but real life doesn’t work like that. Mind you, there is a chance that a person could regain consciousness, in most circumstances, CPR is used to keep a person alive until real help and treatment can be given to a person. Sometimes the person will begin breathing on their own, but rarely do you get a full return of consciousness.
This false idea may prompt some people attempting to help to stop CPR too soon. After all, it’s been 5 minutes but the person didn’t wake up yet, and in the movies it happens in a minute or two. On the contrary, all the times CPR didn’t work in the movies, it was stopped too soon
This is why proper CPR training is needed. Get yourself in a class with a certified instructor, practice on a CPR manikin, and get the truth about this life-saving procedure. Sure, it’s not as miraculous as in the movies, but it still can keep a person alive.
The Usefulness Of A CPR Manikin
In the event of a medical emergency, there is no such thing as too much preparedness. And I think that every medical professional will agree, no matter what their training background, that CPR is a life-saving procedure that could never be practiced enough.
CPR is the action of breathing for another, as well as artificially stimulating circulation with chest compressions. When a person’s heart stops, this procedure can buy them time until they can be brought to a hospital and put on life support. So the importance of this technique cannot be understated.
This is why it pays off to get properly trained in CPR. While one could simply watch a video and mentally practice the routine (which IS better than nothing else), there is no substitute for professional training. You’ll have an expert there to explain the basics, the pitfalls, and what things you need to know and watch out for. There is also another benefit to more professional CPR training, and that is that you will get to practice on a CPR manikin.
CPR manikins are essentially dummy representations of the human body, that were designed for use in CPR training. They can be breathed into, show lungs filling with air, and can be compressed with a comparable pressure to what you would want to use on a real person. Not knowing how much breath to use, or how strongly to compress can actually injure the victim further, so this hands-on practice is essential. This is even more true for practicing CPR on children as it is even easier to accidentally harm a child through the improper use of this procedure.
So the moral is to get yourself trained in CPR by a licensed professional. There are usually places in every major city that offer this training for a very low cost (if not free altogether).
Various Ideas About Patient Location
I’m gonna start this one with a little bit of a disclaimer: this subject is a little strange, but some research shows that there is some merit to it. This is the subject of patient location. That is, where a patient is physically located and the relation to their convalescence.
Let’s start with an example: If an elderly person is at home and is injured (a fall perhaps), then the area of the home where the accident took place could often remind them of the accident/injury and therefore hinder their convalescence. This definitely goes into the subject of psychosomatic ailments. While it may seem contrary to conventional belief, consider that many people do believe the laughter is the best medicine, and that patients who are happy tend to recover faster than those who aren’t. So we can see that the emotional state of a person can affect them physically.
So back to patient location. If you have a person (especially the elderly) who is constantly in pain and injured in their home, it may be a good idea to remove them from that environment, if even for a short time so that they can recover. This also applies to serious accidents. If someone is hurt in a car accident, then getting them away from the scene as soon as possible may prove to be beneficial. Obviously, you first look at the state of the person to see if they can be successfully moved without causing further injury. Given where they are, you may need the proper equipment to get them moved, like a stair chair or a stretcher. But if it’s possible, try to remove them from the scene.
It’s also important that the environment that the patient is brought to is one where they can feel comfortable and happy. Many people feel very ill at ease in a hospital, so this makes things a little tricky. But more hospitals are adopting a more “hotel-esque” look which makes people feel more at home during their stay.