Medicine Over The Years

Changes in Medicine Over the Years

By: Martha Smith

Over the years medicine has changed dramatically, from the 1950’s to the 2000’s and projected changes in the coming years, doctors constantly have to keep up with the changes in order to provide patients with the best possible care.

Life Expectancy Graph

In medicine the advances that have been made changed the way that the doctors today practice medicine.  After speaking with Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Craig Smith from Casper, Wyoming, I was able to get a much better understanding of just how different medicine has become over the years.

One of the most obvious changes as a direct result of the basic advances and increased knowledge in our society in general.  It is well known to citizens the importance of clean drinking water, basic nutrition, and keeping things clean. This directly correlates to the huge increase in the average life expectances of United States citizens.  The average in 1950 was 68.2 and in 2010 the average had increased by ten to 78.42.  If the average continues to rise at the projected rate the average life expectancy in 2050 will be around 83.86.

That basic knowledge has had a major effect in medicine, as Smith said, “the amount of shear knowledge available to know in any field of medicine has grown tremendously.”  But also the technological and drug advancements are great “the use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has allowed seeing details in anatomy/pathology [that] could not be seen before” but “also the development of drugs which work on the immune system to help autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis that can help modify the disease not just treat symptoms.”

With the introduction of new technology the way that doctors evaluate patients has changed as well, Dr. Smith stated that there is “even more emphasis on technology use, [which] may be at the expense of the physical exam and talking to a patient and taking a good history of their problem.”  Recognizing the shift to use of technology it becomes necessary for doctors to develop an idea of when “it is appropriate to order a certain test” (using technology).  

Knee MRI

Talking with people who have been to the doctors over the years small changes have been noticed just over a span of ten or so years, Luke Hudak said the “biggest change in [his] time the change in how medicine is practiced” while some “blame insurance” he believes it is due more to the fact that there are “many more specialists now, as a child you saw one doctor for everything.”

With the shift to technology it may become easy for doctors to order a test before putting an “emphasis [on] talking to the patient and examining them, many issues can be better addressed without test.”  Dr. Smith was able to explain this saying that sometimes the issue is something very simple, and can be identified without a test, and the test can be used to verify the problem, and design a course of action.

It is easy to see the drastic change in medicine, when asked about the state of medicine fifty years ago Dr. Smith explained what he knew about medicine at that time, saying that is would have been much “much more based on the history and physical exam since there was only X-rays as imaging, [and] very small amounts of lab tests.”  Also “there was less to know from a volume of information standpoint and the changes in medicine were not as rapid.”  In the 1950’s the medical was a male dominated field of work that is no longer the case, fifty percent of new doctors are female.

Knee X-Ray

Talking to the sport teacher at National Sports Academy Rob Broadfoot said that when dealing with recovery the “recovery time is shorter, [having] hardly any down time.”  Where “twenty years ago rest was prescribed, now the day after you start rehab.  It is much more proactive, and has lot faster recovery time.”   After injuries occur “some of the injuries that are repaired, like ACL tears, come back stronger.  Doctors are able to strengthen joint more than when it was injured.”  Also the “conditioning and training play important part, twenty years ago athletes did not condition and train like they do today.”  Resulting in “more people injured twenty years ago than now just because they didn’t train like they do today.”

As technology advances in society, it also picks up speed in the medical field.  State of the art treatments are being developed often, and quickly.  With that knowledge it’s easy to expect that in the next fifty years the technology will only grow at a faster rate.  While the technology grows there are also other concerns.  One of the biggest concerns is the “resistance of some bacteria causing infection to antibiotics” this is an “enormous issue.”  Although the best combat to this problem is to control the use of antibiotics; not using antibiotics unless absolutely necessary.

The field of medicine is always changing whether it is in technology, a new break in genetic research resulting in new drugs, or the general expansion of knowledge available.  The change in medicine makes it possible for some people to live, or maintain mobility when years before they would not have had the same outcome.  In the next fifty years many changes can be expected, just as we have seen many changes in the last fifty years.