Relationship between a Health Care Practitioner and a Person Seeking Treatmen - Case Study Example

Complementary and Alternative Medicine Part I Introduction The purpose of studying of medicine is to save lives by curing individuals who are experiencing physical and psychological imbalance. Aiming to find cure for different kinds of illnesses, there are people who visit alternative therapies as compared to Western-based physicians. In general, the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) can be considered either as a substitute for conventional medicine or be combined with the use of conventional medicine. There is a significant increase in the trend of using CAM. Therapeutic relationship is referring to the “relationship between a health care practitioner and a person seeking treatment” (Stone and Katz, Chapter 8 The therapeutic relationship and complementary and alternative medicine, p. 206). According to Stone and Katz, “a successful therapeutic relationship restores the patients’ sense of integrity and wholeness” (p. 208). For therapeutic relationship to work positively, the health care practitioners and the patient should both participate in going through the health care treatment processes (p. 207). In general, there are similarities and differences in the way orthodox health practitioners and CAM practitioners establish and maintain therapeutic relationship with their patients. In relation to the healing effects of therapeutic relationship, ways in which the therapeutic relationship between orthodox health practitioner and CAM practitioners differ when dealing with their respective patients will be identified and tackled in details. Difference in the Therapeutic Relationship of Orthodox and CAM Health Practitioner The World Health Organization (WHO) defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (Stone and Katz, Chapter 6 Understanding health and healing, p. 144). It simply means that for orthodox and CAM health practitioners to be able to provide a successful therapeutic relationship with their respective patients, both types of health care practitioner should be able to satisfy the physical, mental, and social needs of their respective patients. Depending on the environmental setting wherein a CAM practitioner deals with the patient, CAM health practitioners normally establish a therapeutic relationship with their patients by first building trust and confidence which is important in terms of developing a positive therapeutic process and outcome between the CAM practitioner and the patient seeking alternative health care treatment (Thorlby and Panton, p. 206). Orthodox health practitioners establish therapeutic relationship with their patients by making use of holistic approach and giving emphasis on their interpersonal skills which is necessary in determiing the patients’ individual needs, health concerns, and health expectations (Stone and Katz, Chapter 8 The therapeutic relationship and complementary and alternative medicine, p. 209). In the case of CAM practitioners, Mitchell an Cormack (1998) pointed out that it is posible for the use of CAM practice to provide the patient with a positive healing effects since the CAM therapies make use of effective relationship-building strategies when they treat their patients. This is possibly due to the fact that most of the available orthodox practitioners have very little time available to develop a stronger physician-patient relationship when trying to diagnose the patients’ health complaints followed by administering medicine or suggesting useful medical intervention to cure the patients’ individual illnesses. Since CAM practitioners are able to provide each patient with longer time to establish a therapeutic relationship with them, some people tend to become more at ease when dealing with CAM practitioners more than the general physicians like the orthodox practitioners (Lee-Treweek and Stone, p. 232). Based on the past research study results, Mitchell and Cormack (p. 10) summarized the major characteristics that is is included in the establishment of CAM therapeutic relationship as the following: (1) CAM is holistic; (2) symptoms are assessed only in relation to a particular person; (3) uses a broad definition of health; (4) give emphasis on treating chronic disorders; (5) has low side effects; (6) patients are expected to do what they need to do to hasten their own recovery period; and (7) gives emphasis on patients’ perspective about their health and treatment (Stone and Katz, Chapter 8 The therapeutic relationship and complementary and alternative medicine, p. 218). Because of the common characteristics that is included in the establishment of CAM therapeutic relationship, most of the CAM practitioners claim that they are more capable of treating the patients as a whole person as compared to orthodox practitioners whose main concern is to treat the patients’ symptoms (Stone and Katz, Chapter 8 The therapeutic relationship and complementary and alternative medicine, p. 209). CAM practioners believe that the patient is capable of undergoing a process of self-healing (Stone and Katz, Chapter 8 The therapeutic relationship and complementary and alternative medicine, p. 222). In line with this, the study of Coward (1990) revealed that there are quite a lot of commentators who personally agree that the idea that patients are capable of undergoing a process of self-healing makes CAM practitioners reject the thought that some social factors can contrubute to the development of ill health. This is actually one of the main factors why some CAM practitioners failed to make sucessful therapeutic relationship with their patients. The concept of self-healing in patients is also being accepted in the case of the orthodox practitioners. In line with this, Stone revealed that orthodox practitioners are more likely to blame the patients for not being able to overcome their illness within the shortest time possible (Stone, p. 212). In general, orthodox practitioners are trained to establish and develop therapeutic relationship with the patients using a holistic approach. However, orthodox practitioners have the tendency to pay more attention to treating symptoms due to time constraints and institutional bureaucracy when dealing with their patients (Stone and Katz, Chapter 8 The therapeutic relationship and complementary and alternative medicine, p. 228). Therefore, some patients under the care of an orthodox practitioner develop a sense of emotional distress. Because of the weaknesses and limitations of the orthodox practitioners to develop a successful therapeutic relationship with their patients, orthodox medicine is trying to make a shift from the use of a mechanistic model towards the use of a buipsychosocial model (Stone and Katz, Chapter 8 The therapeutic relationship and complementary and alternative medicine, p. 211). Orthodox practitioners are trained to explain to their patients regarding the care and treatment that will be given to their patients. It is also a part of the health care practices of the orthodox practitioners to allow the patients to participate actively in the decision making for their own care and treatment. Contrary to the health care practices of orthodox pracititioners in terms of establishing therapeutic relationship with their patients, CAM practitioners are less likely to explain to their patients about exerting effort to provide the patients some information concerning the possible side effects of their treatment (Stone and Katz, Chapter 8 The therapeutic relationship and complementary and alternative medicine, p. 218). Likewise, a research study revealed that only 60% of the patients under the care of a CAM practitioner were given the opportunity to become involve in decision-making for their own care and treatment whereas the rest of the 40% never had a chance to participate in decision-making process (Kelner, p. 218). Since CAM pracitioners acknowledges the fact that people’s individual belief regarding health and illness plays a significant role on how they have come to perceive the need to call for medical care and treatment, CAM practitioners are likely to consider the individual cultural difference and the personal values of each of their patient way before they start the communication process and treatment (Stone and Katz, Chapter 6 Understanding health and healing, p. 164). For this reason, CAM practitioners are more likely to develop a positive emotion which can contribute to the success of the treatment outcome (Stone and Katz, Chapter 8 The therapeutic relationship and complementary and alternative medicine, p. 207). Conclusion For a person to be healthy, it is necessary for each individual to have a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being. Therefore, the provision of effective and desirable care for the patient is not complete simply when a health care practitioner is searching for treatment to cure the patients’ individual illnesses. Although both orthodox and CAM health practitioners are aiming at establishing an effective therapeutic relationship with their respective patients, the strategic ways on how they establish therapeutic relationship with their clients differs depending on their perception on how care and treatment should be delivered as well as the time available when orthodox and CAM health practitioners deal with each patient. Both orthodox and CAM health practitioners aims at delivering holistic care to their patients. However, their training and orientation on how care and treatment should be delivered to their patient varies in many ways. Because of the limited time available when orthodox practitioner deals with their patients, they tend to concentrate more on finding treatment to cure the patients’ illnesses. For this reason, most orthodox practitioner failed to have sufficient time needed to establish therapeutic relationship with their clients. Given the fact that most CAM practitioners believe that each patient has the capacity to undergo a self-healing process, most of the CAM practitioners tend to concentrate more on establishing therapeutic relationship with their patients more than searching for effective treatment to treat the patients’ individual illnesses. Part II Based on my own personal experience when dealing with patients who are looking for health care services, I personally agree that CAM practitioners are able to establish better therapeutic relationship with the patients as compared to orthodox practitioners. Although the time available when dealing with each of the patient is important in establishing a therapeutic relationship with the patients, the length of time alone is not a sufficient ground for a health care professional not to be able to establish a strong therapeutic relationship with the patients. It is a common knowledge that each of the health care professionals has to attend to many patients within a health care institution. Despite the large number of patients as compared to a few health care professionals, establishing a strong therapeutic relationship with each patient is still possible provided that the health care professional is able to make use of warmth and friendly approach to each patient. Being exposed to a large group of patients and health care professionals, I have noticed some health care professionals who failed to even greet the patient as soon as they have met the patient for the first time. This particular health care practice and attitude towards the patients is one factor wherein the health care professionals will not be able to establish a successful therapeutic relationship with their patients. For this reason, not all health care professionals are able to provide the patients with holistic care needed in order shorten the recovery period of each patient. This is probably one of the main reasons why there is an increasing number of people who seek the professional assistance of CAM therapies each time they experience chronic pain. The problem with orthodox practitioners is that medical doctors often neglect the importance of building strong professional relationship with their patients because of their desire to accommodate the health concerns of more patient. Unlike orthodox practiioners, “CAM practitioners describe themselves as holistic and argue that health and healing are related to holism” (Barrett, Marchand and Scheder a, p. 256). Not only does CAM practitioners take time to get to know their clients, they also work towards empowering their patients by making them become more responsible for their own health aside from being psychologically readily accessible to the public (Barrett, Machand and Scheder b). Other significant differences between an orthodox practitioners and CAM practitioners is their individual perception with regards to the importance of touch therapy. As a common knowledge, CAM practitioners believe that the application of touch therapy like body massage is very powerful in treating the patients (Barrett, Marchand and Scheder a). Aside from enabling the patients feel they are being loved, body massage also promotes better blood circulation within the human body. Therefore, patients who receives touch therapy feel more relaxed and less stressed. Unlike other studies that focuses on the health benefits of using CAM therapies, Busato, Donges and Herren found out that research participants who receive medical care from orthodox practitioners does not experience long lasting and more severe main health problems as compare to those patients who are receiving purely CAM therapies like homeopathy, anthroposophic medicine, neural therapy, herbal medicine, and/or traditional Chinese medicine. Despite the critics behind the lack of sufficient scientific-based study with regards to the use and effectiveness of alternative medicine, there are still some people who prefers the use of CAM as compared with conventional medicine. *** End *** References Barrett, B., et al. "Themes of Holism, Empowerment, Access, and Legitimacy Define Complementary, Alternative, and Integrative Medicine in Relation to Conventional Biomedicine." The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (2004b): Vol. 9, No. 6, pp. 937-947. —. "What Complementary and Alternative Medicine Practitioners Say About Health and Health Care." Annals of Family Medicine (2004a): Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 253-259. Busato, A., et al. "Health status and health care utilisation of patients in complementary and conventional primary care in Switzerland—an observational study." Family Practice (2006): Vol. 23, pp. 116-124. Coward, Rosalind. 'The Whole Truth' In Lee-Treweek, Geraldine and Stone, Julie (eds) 'Chapter 9 Critical issues in the therapeutic relationship'. 1990. Kelner, M. ‘The therapeutic relationship under fire’ In Stone, Julie and Katz, Jeanne (eds) "Chapter 8 The therapeutic relationship and complementary and alternative medicine". 2000. Lee-Treweek, Geraldine and Julie Stone. Chapter 9 Critical issues in the therapeutic relationship. n.d. Mitchell, A. and M. Cormack. 'The Therapeutic Relationship in Complementary Health Care' In Stone, Julie and Katz, Jeanne (eds) "Chapter 8 The therapeutic relationship and complementary and alternative medicine". 1998. Stone, J. 'An Ethical Framework for Complementary and Alternative Therapist' In Stone, Julie and Katz, Jeanne (eds) "Chapter 8 The therapeutic relationship and complementary and alternative medicine". 2002. Stone, Julie and Jeanne Katz. Chapter 6 Understanding health and healing. n.d. —. Chapter 8 The therapeutic relationship and complementary and alternative medicine. n.d. Thorlby, M. and C. Panton. ‘Exploring the therapeutic relationship’ In Stone, Julie and Katz, Jeanne (eds) "Chapter 8 The therapeutic relationship and complementary and alternative medicine". 2002. Read More