Following McWhinney's footsteps

From Family Medicine to Traditional and Complementary Medicine

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4190404
AutoresArmando Henrique Norman (0000-0001-8176-6785, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina), Charles Tesser (0000-0003-0650-8289, UFSC, Brasil)
Ano2019
Volume23
Data de publicação2019-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoInterface - Comunicação Saúde Educação (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1414-3283 • E-ISSN: 1807-5762
EditoraFapUNIFESP (SciELO) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1590/interface.190036
OpenAlexW2970095122
SCIELO_PIDS1414-32832019000100284
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas5
Referências citadas23

Family physicians have developed a holistic approach to patients' care which can facilitate a mutual understanding of different Traditional and Complementary Medicine (T&CM) practices. This analytical paper considers three intertwined issues: (1) Ian McWhinney's critique of biomedical abstractions (i.e., disease categories); (2) The similarity between the cosmology of family medicine's organismic thinking and homeopathy's vitalism as an example of T&CM and (3) The gradient of explanatory models (EMs) to delineate the space within which T&CM can be applied to patients' care. In primary health care predominates a blend of physiopathological and semiological EMs comprised of low to moderate risk patients. In this scenario, the introduction of T&CM practices can enhance family physicians' therapeutic scope. Thus, the combination of gradient of EMs, primary health care attributes, and family physicians' professionalism can provide the required safe environment for implementing T&CM services

Alternative medicine · Complementary medicine · Family medicine · Health care · Homeopathy · Medical education · Pathology · Primary care · Scope (computer science · Vitalism · Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies · Computer Science · Healthcare cost, quality, practices · Law · Medicine · Mental Health and Psychiatry · Psychology