StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

The biomedical model - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The biomedical model of medicine is the current, dominant model used by physicians in the diagnosis of disease. This model mainly focuses on the physical processes, such as the pathology, the biochemistry and the physiology of a disease. …
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER95.1% of users find it useful
The biomedical model
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The biomedical model"

Introduction The biomedical model of medicine is the current, dominant model used by physicians in the diagnosis of disease. This model mainly focuses on the physical processes, such as the pathology, the biochemistry and the physiology of a disease. The biomedical model of illness combines several closely related sets of beliefs, which can be summarised as follows: (Wade D, Halligan P, 2004.) 1. All illness, symptoms and signs are due to an underlying abnormality in the body, which is called disease. 2. Eventually, all diseases give rise to symptoms, “and although other factors may influence the consequences of the disease, they are not related to its development or manifestations.

” (Wade D, Halligan P, 2004.) 3. The absence of disease is the basis of health. 4. Mental phenomena, like emotional disturbance, delusions etc., “are separate from and unrelated to other disturbances of bodily function.” (Wade D, Halligan P, 2004.) 5. Little or no responsibility can be attributed to the patient for the presence or cause of the illness. He is only a victim of circumstances. 6. Although cooperation with treatment is expected from a patient, he is a passive recipient of the treatment.

Concerns about the impact of the biomedical model in providing health care In the biomedical health-care system, the care provider does not have enough time to listen to all of the patient’s concerns and thus offers ineffective care. The system does not address the many psychological risk factors for both morbidity and mortality, and ignores the psychosocial aspects. This leads to unnecessary utilization of medical and surgical services. Further, the current model does not fully tackle issues like “treatment adherence and lifestyle improvement or psychological interventions for acute illness, and management of stressful medical procedures.

” (Levant R, 2005) Success and strength of the biomedical model The biomedical model has proved to be effective at diagnosing and treating most diseases and has “been associated with huge improvement in medical care.” (Wade D, Halligan P, 2004.) Throughout the course of history, the model has established the reasons for the occurrence of diseases, and has come up with very effective treatment strategies. “The biomedical model is clearly relevant for many disease based illnesses, has intuitive appeal, and is supported by a wealth of supporting biological findings.

”(Wade D, Halligan P, 2004.) Drug-based treatment and surgical procedures have become far more effective as well as safer for the individual. Numerous lives have been saved through interventions such as treatment of trauma, cancer, and the reduction of mortality from cardiovascular disease. These are definitely significant contributions to society (Thiele D, 2004.) Weakness and drawbacks of the biomedical model The biomedical model does not take into account the role of a persons psychology or society in the cause of disease and its treatment.

By ignoring the patient’s psychology, the care provider might see only a ‘patient’ or a ‘case’ and not the real person behind it. The biomedical model of illness may not be able to fully explain many forms of illness. This is because of the assumption that all illness has a single underlying cause, which is disease (pathology) and that removal or attenuation of the disease will result in a return to health. However, evidence exists that this assumption is wrong. (Wade D, Halligan P, 2004).

This assumption “has led to medicalisation of commonly experienced anomalous sensations and often disbelief of patients who present with illness without any demonstrable disease process.” (Wade D, Halligan P, 2004). In other words, it can be said that the biomedical model does not explain functional somatic syndromes and illness without evident disease. Conclusion: Although the biomedical model is effective in the diagnosis of a disease, and in developing treatment strategies and surgical procedures, the limitations of the medical model cannot be denied.

The model does not effectively incorporate psychological, psychosocial, or spiritual factors. In order to be a truly useful model it should be radically changed so that it incorporates the above factors. There is a need to transform our biomedical health-care system to one based on the biopsychosocial model, which recognises psychological and social factors. ****************************************************************************** REFERENCES Levant R. (2005). Health care for the whole person .

Retrieved November 3, from http://www.apa.org/monitor/may05/pc.html Thiele D. (2004). Impact of the biomedical model of disease for aboriginal people. Retrieved November 4, from http://www.latrobe.edu.au/aipc/HTML%20abstracts/Thiele,%20D-270.html Wade D, Halligan P. (2004). Do biomedical models of illness make for good healthcare systems? BMJ; 329:1398-1401. 

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“The biomedical model Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words”, n.d.)
The biomedical model Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/biology/1535257-the-biomedical-model
(The Biomedical Model Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words)
The Biomedical Model Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words. https://studentshare.org/biology/1535257-the-biomedical-model.
“The Biomedical Model Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/biology/1535257-the-biomedical-model.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The biomedical model

Sociology of health/ the biomedical and socio medical model of health

While the social model defines it as a state of total physical, mental, and social well-being, The biomedical model has ruled that this definition is weak as it lacks operational value.... hellip; The biomedical model insists that the health of an individual is affected when a disease, which implies specific malfunctions of the human body, affects the individual.... The biomedical model is more practical when compared to the socio medical model of health (Derick, 2004)....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

Stress and the Biomedical Theory

hellip; The biomedical model provides a clearly articulated scientific framework for understanding the disease process and mechanisms of remedy, and it excels at treating infectious diseases and acute or traumatic injuries.... When analysing stress using The biomedical model the practitioner views stress in a similar fashion as a doctor views illness.... This essay describes the connections between stress and the biomedical Theory, has served the medical community well for years now....
7 Pages (1750 words) Essay

Is Biomedical Model out of Date

highlights many models had been proposed and one such model is The biomedical model.... The biomedical model has found the formation and defined the character of American medical practice and education.... There is a growing perception, however, that The biomedical model cannot fully reflect the broad realities of modern health care.... n The biomedical model, health is defined as the absence of disease.... This clearly shows that The biomedical model fails to address the social and psychological issues and thus can be considered to be outdated....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

The Theory of the Biomedical Model of Personality

In the paper “The Theory of The biomedical model of Personality” the author summarizes the major viewpoint and criticism of the theory of The biomedical model of personality.... The biomedical model offers medication to alter the neurotransmitters it can provide causal reasons for infectious diseases.... hellip; The author states that The biomedical model can only give the symptoms but cannot rule out the causes.... Therefore major health problems of today cannot be resolved within conventional framework of The biomedical model and further research is to be performed....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Is biomedical model out of date

focuses on explaining why The biomedical model is considered to be outdated.... According to The biomedical model, the human body is regarded as a machine that can be analyzed in terms of its parts.... This contradicts The biomedical model.... n The biomedical model, health is defined as the absence of disease.... This clearly shows that The biomedical model fails to address the social and psychological issues and thus can be considered to be outdated....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Health Psychology

In health psychology, health is defined by distinct models – two of which are The biomedical model and the biopsychosocial model, both… In this paper, we shall discuss these models, bringing to light their pros and cons and comparing them with each other. The biomedical model, which was introduced in the 19th century, is based on the concept that every Many scientific models and theories of health have been developed by researchers for treatment of mental and physical fitness over the years....
1 Pages (250 words) Article

Development of Healing: Improvement of the Medical and Curative Practices

Illness is as old as humankind is, thus an attempt to mitigate in situations of illness in an age long undertaking that has been remodeled within different periods.... Nature of diseases and social perspective have contributed significantly in influencing the understanding of… Thus this study will purpose to trace and analyzes the understanding, development and the changes that have occurred in the improvement of the medical and curative practices throughout different age periods (Young, 2003)....
9 Pages (2250 words) Essay

The Biomedical and Biopsychosocial Models of Health and Illness

The biomedical model focus on the physical causes of the disease in a person whereas BPS takes a broader view but include the physical or biological reasons as the number one reason behind a person's disease.... - The biomedical model of health states that body and mind work independently with no impact of one on the other whereas the BPS claims that the mind and body have a definite connection with each other and have the capability to impact each other.... BPS gives more weight age to the therapy as one of the essential methods of curing a person whereas The biomedical model of health focuses more on medicines as the most viable method of curing a person....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us