Context:
This assessment is aimed at developing student’s ability to reflect on their learning and discuss content and share ideas in a professional online environment. The assessment will develop cognitive and critical thinking skills essential for a career in the health profession.
By prescribing this assessment, students will develop their academic writing skills as well as their ability to effectively summarise information. This assessment allows students to broaden their own understanding of each topic through engaging in academic discourse, while developing their skills to engage in formal discussions with their peers.
Instructions:
Students will be required to post on each of the five (5) discussion forums as per the topics and timeframes as indicated below.
Discussion 1:
Discussion Topic:
Introduce yourself on the discussion forum. Share the course you are studying and why you are passionate about this area of study.
Discussion 2
Discussion Topic:
Share a resource appropriate to the content covered in weeks 1 to 3.
- Students must demonstrate accurate referencing technique according to APA 6th edition.
- The resource could be a book, journal or web resource or a multimedia resource such as a video. Students can access the library to find the resource or they can use other sources.
- Students can upload small documents as appropriate according to copyright and academic writing policy.
Discussion 3:
Explain holism in relation to a chosen CAM modality.
CAM modalities may include naturopathy, western herbal medicine, nutritional medicine or other suitable modality as discussed in the subject content.
Discussion 4:
This discussion relates to content delivered in weeks 6, 7 & 8.
Discussion Topic:
Identify appropriate ethical professional behaviour in the health industry.
Topics you may discuss: association membership, code of ethics, confidentiality, privacy, boundaries in practice, autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, duty of care, evidence-based medicine for ethical practice.
Discussion 5:
Describe a common CAM modality used in Australia.
CAM Modalities may include: Naturopathy, Western Herbal Medicine, Nutritional Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Osteopathy, Chiropractic, etc.
Topics you may discuss: scope of practice, regulation requirements, value to healing, evidence base.
Answer:
Holism in relation to naturopathy
In medical practice, holism refers to the treatment of the whole person in terms of mental health, psychological and social factors to provide healing and wellness. Holistic treatment is therefore a comprehensive approach to healthcare focused on treating the body as a whole as opposed to treating specific symptoms of a disease. Naturopathy on the other hand is a type of alternative medicine that provides a holistic approach to healing and wellness. As opposed to medication, naturopathy focuses on promoting a healthy lifestyle. Naturopathy involves several remedies which include dietary advice, nutritional medicine, lifestyle advice and a few physical therapies such as body massage (Graham, Steel, & Wardle, 2019).
According to Pizzorno, & Snider, (2015) naturopathy promotes holistic and natural healing as it aims on educating the patient and their significant others to promote good health through boosting body immunity, reducing health risks, minimizing disease symptoms and promoting faster healing. In addition, naturopathy is based on natural remedies such as healthy diet and frequent exercise, access to clean and safe water, sunlight and stress management. Based on my experience in healthcare, assessment by naturopaths focuses on certain aspects of a patient’s health such as dietary habits, environment, lifestyle and history of the disease in the family. A combination of these natural remedies is what provides a holistic approach to health care that is able to provide physical, emotional and psychological health.
Ethical Professional Behavior in Health
Healthcare ethics refer to a set of values, beliefs and standards that guides health professionals in making moral and value-laden choices and decisions in healthcare. Healthcare ethics may be contradictory which requires health workers to think critically on which ethical standard to base their practice on. Some of the most common ethical principles in healthcare include beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy and justice (Hall, Orentlicher, Bobinski, Bagley, & Cohen, 2018). Beneficence is an ethical standard that urges healthcare workers to do what is good irrespective of the situation. Non maleficence is also known as the principle of least harm. As an ethical principle, it urges health workers to opt to actions that cause the least harm to the patient. Justice refers to the common good while autonomy urges health workers to allow patients to make decisions regarding their health.
In the field of my practice, the most common ethical scenarios that I have encountered include; professional negligence and malpractice, confidentiality of patient information, the informed consent process, therapeutic relationships and physician assisted deaths also known as euthanasia. Informed consent process is important as health workers are supposed to inform patients of health outcomes. Healthcare workers are also supposed to treat patients’ information as confidential which is not always the case as they often. According to Runciman, Merry, & Walton, (2017) a clear understanding of appropriate ethical behavior is therefore necessary for health workers to deliver ethically responsive care.
CAM in Australia
The use of complementary and Alternative medicine in Australia has been on the increase in the recent past. The main types of CAM in Australia include mind body interventions, biological therapies, manipulative body techniques and energy therapies. However, the main CAM modality is traditional medicine. Traditional medical society of Australia has the highest number of professionals as far as CAM is concerned. The professionals are slightly above 11, 700 who provide health services throughout the continent (Yuan, Ma, Ye, & Piao, 2016). The field is also rapidly growing due its cost effectiveness and good health outcomes which makes it the most preferred method of treatment. Traditional medicine in Australia combines a variety of therapies which include massage, Chinese traditional medicine, herbal medicine, homeopathy, naturopathy and nutritional advice.
The traditional medical practitioners are enrolled to the Australian Traditional Medicine Society which provided accredited membership and regulation. Membership depends on personal qualification but it is free for students. The body provides regulatory system and practice details. The traditional medicine has several advantages in the improvement of health in Australia. Thousands of Australians use the traditional medicine services which are considered to be highly effective in health promotion, holistic care, treatment and preventative care (Baer, 2015).
References
Baer, H. (2015). Complementary medicine in Australia and New Zealand: Its popularisation, legitimation and dilemmas. Routledge.
Yuan, H., Ma, Q., Ye, L., & Piao, G. (2016). The traditional medicine and modern medicine from natural products. Molecules, 21(5), 559.
Hall, M. A., Orentlicher, D., Bobinski, M. A., Bagley, N., & Cohen, I. G. (2018). Health care law and ethics. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.
Runciman, B., Merry, A., & Walton, M. (2017). Safety and ethics in healthcare: a guide to getting it right. CRC Press.
Graham, M. K., Steel, A., & Wardle, J. (2019). Philosophy and Naturopathic Principles of Practice. Australian Journal of Herbal and Naturopathic Medicine, 31(1), 1.
Pizzorno, J. E., & Snider, P. (2015). Contemporary naturopathic medicine (pp. 366-86).
