0206 - Biomedicine as a Sociocultural System - RM

Question 1

What is Biomedicine?

Answer 1

The Western system of medicine which is based on a set of scientific knowledge about function and dysfunction of organs, cells and (increasingly) genes in the body. The purpose of biomedicine is to heal through addressing and repairing the dysfunction

Question 2

What are the key disciplines in biomedicine?

Answer 2

Anatomy
Physiology
Immunology
Genetics
Pharmacology (not on slides)

Question 3

What is a culture?

Answer 3

The system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviours, and artefacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted through learning.

Question 4

Objective “Argue the case that Biomedicine can (or can’t) be seen as a cultural system…”

Answer 4

Biomedicine fits the definition of a culture – it is a system of shared beliefs, values, behaviours, and artefacts that are transmitted through learning. It is simply a culture that has heavy reliance on scientific method and one that is extremely dominant in our society, so we don’t always realise that it’s a culture.

Biomedicine still relies heavily on social/cultural interaction (norms in Dr/Pt relationship).

From a social perspective, this reliance on scientific method is not necessarily distinctive from the cultural underpinnings and beliefs of other forms of medicine (voodoo, homeopathy, naturopathy etc). The scientific method is, however, more validated (by itself – scientific trials).

Question 5

Distinguish between illness and disease

Answer 5

Disease is an objective disruption or dysfunction of the body – organs, cells, and genes.
Illness is the subjective lived experience of being unwell.