How Medical Professionals Can Restore Humanism in Health Care

The field of medicine has made huge strides in the last century. The discovery of penicillin, the development of vaccines, the ability to transplant organs and countless other advancements have helped raise our life expectancies and better our quality of life. Medical researchers are constantly searching for ways to fight diseases and make our bodies function more healthfully. While the scientific, biological aspects of health care are clearly central to progress in the medical field, it’s important to remember that humans are more than just our basic biology. We’re complex, emotional creatures, and our well being is not only based on our physical health but our mental and emotional health as well. Increased awareness of this holistic concept has lead to the rise of what some call “medical humanism” in recent years.

What is Medical Humanism?

According to the New England Journal of Medicine, the medical humanism movement seeks to recognize the patient as more than just a person and to focus on his or her individual goals, values and preferences with respect to clinical decisions. Essentially, proponents of medical humanism argue that we need to look at patients as complete human beings, rather than just biological machines that need fixing. It means taking into account our innate desire to be treated with dignity and respect and incorporating it into all levels of the health care system. It’s a movement about empowering patients by getting them more involved in their treatment and giving them the compassion they need to truly heal.

Medical Humanism in Schools

What can we do to help make humanism a part of health care? Medical schools have already begun emphasizing empathy and compassion, highlighting the necessity of making patients feel included and honestly cared for during their treatment. In fact, the entire health care field is trending toward humanism, and is looking to attract empathetic, caring people to help make medical humanism a reality. If you’re a compassionate person with an interest in medicine, consider a job in the health care field. Health professions are looking for job candidates with the “human touch” who will genuinely care about their patients, and who understand that empathy is an integral part of the healing process.

Humanistic Medical Assisting

While the medical field has a vast array of different job opportunities, one in particular has great job prospects and doesn’t require a bachelor’s degree: medical assisting. Medical assistants perform various tasks in doctors’ offices and hospitals, including patient care and administrative responsibilities. Because they’re constantly interacting with both patients and staff, medical assistants have a lot of impact on their surrounding environment. Training is often on-the-job, but there are medical assistant programs that take 1-2 years and might make you a more attractive job candidate. According to the Bureau of Labor Statics, employment in the medical assisting field is expected to grow much faster than the rest of the job market, which is especially important in this sluggish economy.

The Power of Empathy

Whether you decide to delve into medical assisting or a different health care profession, it’s important to remember the power that individuals have when it comes to impacting the larger system. If you believe in medical humanism, you have the ability to help make it a reality by participating in the health care field.

Derrick Marshall, a freelance writer, focuses his attention on medical assisting programs and other medical college degree programs.