21st Century Medication Treatments and 1960s Medication Treatments - Research Paper Example

The years between the 1960s and the twenty first century have seen extraordinary advances in medicine, with many improvements having been made in the treatment of a multitude of diseases. These improvements have come about because of dedicated research, and cooperation, between the government and the private sector in a bid to make healthcare services more efficient. There have been advances in the medical field especially when dealing with the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases. Although the aim of providing treatment for various ailments has remained the same throughout the years, the ways of providing such treatment have changed, with the development of more efficient ways and medication to do so. Some diseases, which were previously thought to be untreatable, can now be more easily treated than before, and these include some mental disorders. In this paper, there shall be a comparison of the way treatments were done in the 1960s and how they are handled in the contemporary period. Among the areas to be discussed, include the medication that is given to patients, therapies, the various types of surgeries, and several minor treatments. In the twenty first century, there are medications for almost every medical condition, which is known to medical practitioners. These medications are based on a long period of research, and most have been proven to work extremely efficiently. Many of these medications have been designed to treat ailments and are continuously being improved to achieve the best result. However, most of the medications that are used in the twenty first century are dedicated to medical conditions, which are currently prevalent, and rarely are medications developed to deal with diseases that are thought to have been eradicated. This is highly risky because it enables such diseases as smallpox, which was thought to have been eradicated, to form new strains, which would be virtually untreatable using modern medicine. Despite this, it can still be said that contemporary medications have exceedingly improved the lives of people, and it has enabled people to lead normal lives despite some severe conditions which they might have (Hitron 243). Medications in the 1960s were not advanced, as those used in the twenty first century, because the technology used for their development was not advanced. However, it is during this period that research on various medical conditions began to be conducted so that cures could be found. It can be said that the medications used in the 1960s were still in the experimental stage, and most of them tended to display unusually severe side effects on the users. The development of medications during that period tended to be exceedingly slow, and this led to the use of a certain type of drug for a long time before new and improved ones could be developed. The twenty first century has seen improvements in the area of surgery, with many specialties within this field having been developed. Currently, all surgical work is no longer the domain of general surgeons, and instead, there are many surgical specialties. One of the most popular surgical specialties that have developed in the twenty first century is cosmetic surgery (Gutowski 1798). Its rapid development has come about because people now have the option to correct those features, which they feel are undesirable in their bodies. This surgery is still gaining in popularity, and it is thought that it will be a commonplace thing within a few years. Other specialties that have developed in this field include dental surgery whose sole purpose is to deal with teeth, and neurosurgery, which deals with the operation of the brain to correct any damage in it. In the 1960s, most of the surgery conducted was done by general surgeons. It was a rare thing to find a surgeon who was specialized in only one area of the human body, such as neurosurgeons. Moreover, such specialties as plastic surgery were virtually nonexistent. Some of the work done by surgeons to improve severe damage to the skin could be considered patching up when compared with modern standards. Moreover, during that time there was not enough knowledge or understanding of the human body to conduct procedures other than those that were the most essential. In other words, surgery in the 1960s was mostly basic, and it was only later that there developed any specialties in the field. The mortality rate of patients who had undergone surgical procedures in the 1960s was much higher than in subsequent years. There have been enormous strides in the development of therapies to deal with the various medical conditions, which exist in the twenty first century. The most common use of therapies is in the treatment of certain types of cancers, and these therapies are known to have adverse effects on the patients. While some therapies are used to prevent the spread of certain diseases throughout the body, they are not usually a guarantee for the cure of such diseases. Even in the twenty first century, some therapies have been found not to work a hundred percent, and improvements are still trying to be made in the way they are administered to patients (Cutler 920). Therapies in the 1960s were still in their early stages of development, and the chances of their success tended to be extremely slim. Those based on psychological treatment tended to be based on a wrong diagnosis, an example of which was the classification of homosexuality as a disease, and the use of aversion therapy as a way of treating the condition. It was only much later, with the advancement of both the knowledge and technology for the administration of therapy that they became more effective than they previously were. In conclusion, it can be said that medicine has come a long way from the 1960s as is evidenced by the high rates of successful treatments that are currently being witnessed. Some of the most innovative medical technology has either been created or improved in the twenty first century, and this trend is not likely to stop any time soon. Some medical conditions, which were utterly untreatable in the sixties, can be effectively treated today, and this has led to a huge advancement in the life expectance of a majority of the world’s population. Furthermore, it is the research, which was started in the 1960s, which led to the development of medicine as it is seen in the contemporary world. Without such research, as well as the information gathered concerning certain diseases in those years, then it would have been impossible to develop suitable treatments and therapies to deal with them. Works Cited Cutler, David M., et al. "The Value of Medical Spending in the United States, 1960-2000."The New England journal of medicine 355.9 (2006): 920-7.  Gutowski, Karol A. "Plastic Surgery History." JAMA 293.14 (2005): 1798. Hitron, Anna, et al. "The Influence of Antidiabetic Medications on the Development and Progression of Prostate Cancer."Cancer Epidemiology 36.4 (2012): 243-50.  Read More