From a holistic healthcare perspective, a problematic issue that remains a common thread among many healthcare practitioners is the notion that a patient is a collection of symptoms, problems to be solved, or diseases cured.
This is not some witchcraft mumbo jumbo hyperbole, akin to the fallacious notion that frequently accompanies “naturopathic” ideology, which itself is wholly without any merit, scientific or otherwise… save that some damn fools spend money on that snake oil peddled by unscrupulous vendors.
This simple idea is that we are an entire collection of things – emotions, thoughts, physiological symptoms and more – all work together to make us who we are. It’s kinda’ like asking the proverbial question, ‘which leg of a three-legged stool is most important?’
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The Simple Idea That Is Transforming Health Care
A focus on quality of life helps medical providers see the big picture—and makes for healthier, happier patients
By LAURA LANDRO
- Updated April 16, 2012, 1:32 p.m. ET
A very simple question is changing the delivery of medical care: How is your health affecting your quality of life? Laura Landro explains on Lunch Break. Photo: Robert Neubecker/WSJ.
A very simple question is changing the delivery of medical care: How is your health affecting your quality of life? Laura Landro explains on Lunch Break. Photo: Robert Neubecker/WSJ.
A very simple question is changing the delivery of medical care:
How is your health affecting your quality of life?
For decades, numbers drove the treatment of diseases like asthma, heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis. Public-health officials focused on reducing mortality rates and hitting targets like blood-sugar levels for people with diabetes or cholesterol levels for those with heart disease.
Doctors, of course, are still monitoring such numbers. But now health-care providers are also adding a whole different, more subjective measure—how people feel about their condition and overall well-being. They’re pushing for programs where nurses or trained counselors meet with people and ask Read the rest of this entry »
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