As a student pursuing a career in the medical field, this class was very beneficial to me. From this class I have learned a different perspective to looking at health overall and the diagnosis and treatment of patients. Before taking this class I did not think much of how culture and other intersections influenced each individual person. Basically, like the other medical students from the article in week ___, I always assumed the root cause of an illness is biological. I never really considered all of the other influences from the world, which is naïve. Basically what medical anthropologist do is observe and research how everything in the world including every day encounters effect people and their behaviors and how that relates to their illness. I really enjoyed the ethnomedical approach lectures. I found it important that different cultures have different views of treatment and many times their spiritual ways increase the healing process. For instance, patients who come from less industrialized societies with spiritual backgrounds, practice medicine in the same way. Shamans for instance, share the same beliefs and customs as those people seeking help. Thus, giving them a strong bond of trust compared to the doctor and the patient. This can end up giving them an increase healing time along with the help of their nearby family. Furthermore, the concept of clown doctors was very intriguing. Clown doctors visit hospitals to cheer up little kids who are sick. Something as simple as laughing and letting them forget about their illness just for a little can really help a child with their healing. Furthermore, the ecological approach is an approach that I found important to healthcare. Illness’s are not uniform around the world; therefore, where you live, the environment around you, and the policies upheld around you all should be considered as an influence to your illness. For instance, again referring to the video in week two’s materials “Becoming American” the Latino immigrants health dramatically changed after moving to the United States. This means that the ecological approach should definitely being used when looking at health. Moving on with my education and becoming a Physician’s Assistant in the next few years, I will remember to consider everything that I have learned in this class. I will take this with me while I am practicing because I definitely find it important. Anthropology is something that every health care worker, in my opinion should have background in. Using a medical anthropology perspective along with the help of biomedicine could be a huge step in health care and could be key to American’s health. If I were explaining medical anthropology to someone who had no idea what it was, I would tell them that medical anthropologist consider every aspect of the world that could be effecting your health. I would tell them that they have background knowledge of observing human behavior relating to healthcare decisions and have taken part in case studies. Medical anthropologist and all other hospital staff are the best team there could be when working together to diagnosing and treating a patient. |
References:
Catholic Charities Flooded with Young Illegal Latino Immigrants. 14 June 2014. Brett Bart London. Web. July 2, 2015.
Tazin, Karim. "Course Materials - "Becoming American". June 2015. Accessed July 2, 2015.
Tazin, Karim. "Course Materials - "A doctor for a disease, A Shaman for the Soul". June 2015. Accessed July 2, 2015.
Tazin, Karim. "Course Materials - "Clown Doctors: Shaman healers or Western medicine". June 2015. Accessed July
2, 2015.
Catholic Charities Flooded with Young Illegal Latino Immigrants. 14 June 2014. Brett Bart London. Web. July 2, 2015.
Tazin, Karim. "Course Materials - "Becoming American". June 2015. Accessed July 2, 2015.
Tazin, Karim. "Course Materials - "A doctor for a disease, A Shaman for the Soul". June 2015. Accessed July 2, 2015.
Tazin, Karim. "Course Materials - "Clown Doctors: Shaman healers or Western medicine". June 2015. Accessed July
2, 2015.