Health Policy Analyst (Biomedicine)

Health Policy Analyst
Name:
Institution:
Introduction
Today, the world perceives health care system in our country as a highly valued feature of Canadian life. This comes along with the presence of medical pluralism. Medical pluralism would refer to as the adoption of several medical systems such as the western biomedicine or the integration of the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) (Agdal, 2005). It encourages the patients to take advantage of various health strategies and healing models. It is the objective of this project to seek the understanding of the advantages as well as the disadvantages of this new phenomenon of medical pluralism. Therefore, an interview was necessary with a health policy analyst. The interviewee specializes in medical issues.
The choice of the health policy analyst was in efforts to minimize the methodological limitations as well as the biases. This is because the research is subject to openness, trust and honesty. The interview covered question such as when do medicine practitioners use the western biomedicine mainstream and when would they turn into other solutions. The interviewee had to address the question whether there are other kinds of health conditions or illnesses that the practitioners perceive as biomedicine, spiritual-healing, alternative medicine or the non-western systems. Other issues covered during the interview were such as the valuables of biomedicine and in other healing systems, the importance of gender, age ethnicity, and class in determining the suitable healing system, the kind of healing activities in the private spheres and in public spheres, the elements missing in the western biomedicine that practitioners find else where. Further, in discussion are the issues such as the attractive elements of biomedical systems. The interview helped in understanding the importance of the pluralism in biomedicine.
The first question addressed was when the medical practitioners would use the mainstream western biomedicine and when they would opt to use other healing systems. In other solutions of healing, we have the alternative and the complementary medicine. Alternative medicine would refer to as the range health practices, therapies and products that are not in the medical schools’ curriculum. On the other hand, complementary medicine is the alternative medicine integrated with the science-based medicine. It would be easier to use the western biomedicine systems where the patient seeks the treatment from specialists. However, if a patient does not have faith in the western treatment but rather believes in other healing systems, then the practitioner would easily opt to use other systems.
From the interview, the interviewee revealed that practitioners would classify some illness and health conditions as of the spiritual healing, biomedicine and others to alternative medicine. Some conditions react slowly to certain medicines while others would respond differently. This would make the doctors believe that some conditions attain fulfilling results if treated by a certain healing system (Ayers, & Kronenfeld, 2012). For example, some conditions have much positive results when treated by the alternate medicine while others may not respond to any medicine. Therefore, the doctors would tend to refer cases to other healing systems.
The other question was what is valuable to practitioners in the biomedicine? The interviewee responded by saying that the western biomedicine greatly relies on research and the latest technology. Therefore, research drives the healing systems in biomedicine. The patients go through various tests in order to determine the cause of their illness or the health condition. Therefore, the treatment is from the cause of the disease. On the other hand, the interviewee perceives other healing systems as having invaluable. The other healing systems such as the non-western and the traditional healing systems do not value research and patient analysis. It turns out that the treatment they give to their patients is not quality.
There is the issue of ethnicity, gender, age and class in determining healing options. These factors are important in the choices of the healing system of an individual. The ethnicity depends on the culture, norms, values and the beliefs of the ethnic group of the patient. Age is another factor that is important in determining the healing system of a patient. A person’s interpretations, behaviors and responses greatly rely on an individual’s class age and gender. These miscellaneous realities result in varied personal elucidation as well as the reaction into situations, perceptions, self-efficacy and views on reasonable alternatives and solutions. The beliefs of an individual are important in relation to ethnicity, culture, age, gender and social class (Hendershot, 2003). They play a major role in determining what healing systems suites who.
The interviewee admitted that there are various kinds of healing activities employed in home and in the doctor’s office (Kaptchuck, & Eisenberg, 2001). These healing activities may vary from one setting to another and from one ethnic group to another as well as the social class of the healer. The healing activities may include the practitioner advising the patient. This may be on the importance of the healing system in use and the disadvantages of the same. Further, the practitioner may advice the patient about the healing process. This way the patient knows what to expect. This healing activity may take [place in the hospital or even at home. The other activity is the illness or the condition analysis. The practitioners need to analyze the condition with the patient. This is important in understanding the cause of the illness and in determining the best healing system that may work for the patient. This is mostly in the doctor’s office (hospital) but it does not happen in the home setting.
The other question that the interviewee addressed was what is missing in the biomedicine that is in other healing systems. The analyst admitted that the biomedicine field depends on the science. However, the human beings are spiritual beings. In them, there is the aspect of spiritualism. Therefore, their perception of the illnesses and other health conditions may come because of spiritualism. This is to say that in the healing system there has to feature the aspect of spiritualism. Otherwise, the patient may not feel that the biomedicine is the right healing system for them. This aspect is in other non-western biomedicine healing systems. The understanding of the ethnic background is missing in the western biomedicine while it is common in other healing systems especially the non-western systems. the ethnic background is important in deciding the healing system as well as the beliefs of the patient. These two aspects are important in the healing process of an individual. However, you find that this aspect is mis...