A Look Back: My Gains and Findings from ANP 204
If you’ve never had any experience with Medical Anthropology, and possibly don't even know what it is, than this page may be of great help to you. In the simplest of terms, I would describe medical anthropology as the study of health, medicine, healing, health care systems, and the individual illness experience both historically and current. This study is then used to help us understand people, cultures, and the body, in an attempt to improve health and quality of life for people all over the world. The picture to the left is an awesome illustration showing all that medical anthropology is and all it can do! Before taking this course, I saw medicine as strictly science. However, I quickly realized that I would need to rethink this view if I was to be at all successful as a medical professional. Even in the first week of ANP 204, I began to see how important culture and individual beliefs are to a person’s illness and healing experience. Not only does it affect the way people see health and the body itself, but it determines the action one uses about trying to resolve this, or in some cases, lack of action. I found it particularly interesting to think about the medicalization of certain conditions and how it can differ so greatly from culture to culture. I now realize that even though we don’t know it, our cultural views determine every decision and opinion we have about health any medicine. It will be important for me to understand and respect the wide variety of views of my patients in order to treat them the best that I possibly can. Another important thing I gained from this class was an insight to some of the critical issues and inequalities in healthcare in America today. One of the most memorable as well as surprising parts of this class was learning about the differences in health care systems across the world in a PBS publication. For instance, I learned that the British never pay a cent out of pock for health care (Palfremen)! Check out the link below for a recent news article discussing this topic. Another lasting impression was made by the health equity quiz (Unnatural Causes). I still am so shocked and saddened by some of the statistics that I learned during that activity. The problems that were unveiled through these two outlets confirmed my thoughts about how crucial medical anthropologists will be if we are ever to solve these issues. I think students would benefit even more if real world problem analysis were incorporated into the curriculum. Students could read about current events in health care systems, or study case specific research about a current medical problem or disease. They then could analyze these issues from an anthropological standpoint and offer a solution or approach to this problem. I cannot think of a better way to prepare someone for work in the medical field! |
"Health Equity Quiz." Unnatural Causes. 2008. Accessed August 12, 2014. http://www.unnaturalcauses.org/interactivities_01-1.php.
Palfremen, Jon. “Sick Around the World.” PBS Home Video. Alexandria, VA (2008). |
Actress Emmy Rossum's description of British health care, click below!
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