Role of Medicine in Interdisciplinary Health Care

Based on the traditional reliance by patients on Physicians as the ultimate health care provider responsible for patient care, the roles of Medicine in interdisciplinary health care would include:

• To provide leadership in the delivery of interdisciplinary health care;
• To share knowledge contributed by the numerous specialties and subspecialties of medicine on the theory and practice of health maintenance, disease, diagnosis and treatment;
• To establish specific goals and objectives for preventive and curative care;
• To analyze and interpret the results of the evaluations of the health status of individuals and populations;
• To gather scientific data on the evolution of health status and diseases in populations; and
• To provide guidance in the analysis and studies of quality assessment, outcomes research, evaluation of quality of life, cost effectiveness and cost benefits of specific interventions.

Role of Osteopathic Medicine in Interdisciplinary Health Care
 
Osteopathic Medicine evolved from traditional medicine in the 1870s because of dissatisfaction of medical treatments of the day. The founder of Osteopathic Medicine, Dr. Still, embraced the teachings of Hippocrates with its emphasis of the Holistic approach to the patient in which all parts of the body are interrelated. Dr. Still emphasized the manual treatment of the musculoskeletal system as a means of treating all parts of the body. The roles of Osteopathic Medicine in interdisciplinary health care would include:

• Evaluation of the status of the body, mind and spirit of patients and treating or referring appropriately;
• Providing leadership in rehabilitation of the musculoskeletal system and referring appropriately;
• Coordinating care for patients with multiple systems complaints;
• Practicing preventive medicine through treatment and referral;
• Bridging the gap between traditional and alternative medicine.

The Physician Academy contributed an article to the July 25, 2022 edition of the NAP Times. Click the title below to read the entire article by Academy Chair-Elect, Michael Allswede DO FNAP.

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