Time to redefine ‘good medicine’

We’re going to have to radically change the way we talk and think about medicine.  Most people alive today still think of pills or drugs as the primary tool of medicine. When there are no drugs, there’s surgery, and occasionally there’s radiation.

But more and more evidence is showing that this view is plain wrong. It seems we’ve been misled by the prevailing biomedical model.  In reality, what we do with our lives, how we eat, or how we move, relax or sleep, are much stronger determinants of health. What’s more, the amount of money people have as well as where they live also appear to be important. That’s why there are consistent and often strong associations between high rates of chronic degenerative disease among those who are socio-economically deprived, and vice versa.  So it’s not just ‘drugs as medicine’, or ‘food as medicine’. It’s also ‘movement as medicine’, ‘money as medicine’ and ‘geography as medicine’.

Our two stories this week come in the wake of two positive happenings that have this broader frame of reference. One’s a major US study using OECD data that shows prescription drugs hinder rather than help deliver good health outcomes. The other’s the ‘Nutritank’ revolution among British third year med students who believe they need to learn more about nutrition if they’re going to engage in good medicine.

In health, naturally

 

Rob Verkerk, PhD

Founder, executive & scientific director