What is the difference between medicine and public health?

Question description

Initial Post

What is the difference between medicine and public health? Think about the ways public health affects you and list at least three ways it impacts your daily life.

Be sure to include a list of credible references to support your response. Your initial response to the Discussion topic should be a minimum of 200 words. You should also provide at least two responses to your classmates that should be a minimum of 100 words. In your peer replies, you are encouraged to challenge responses to promote critical thinking on all sides of a discussion.

Classmate Post #1

Hello everyone,

This was a very interesting topic for discussion board to tell us what this course is about. I never gave any thought about what the difference was between public health and medicine. I always thought that medicine was the same as public health. Even though I learned that they go hand in hand, I learned that public health comes prior to medicine. Public health is provided on both state, and local levels, and there are many different images of public health. A few different images include different methods, different professions, and the general health of the public. According to our textbook’s definition in chapter one, public health is the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting health and efficiency through organized community effort (Turnock, 2016). It makes me happy and feel comforted that so many communities come together to help the general public with their health. The main goal is to prolong lives and to prevent diseases and injuries. The key words that I focus on when learning about public health is prevention and protection. This makes public health different from medicine because public health deals with prevention, while medicine helps after a disease or injury has already happened. If someone becomes sick because the public health failed, then a person might take medicine to cure them.

One way public health impacts my daily life is though the job of a nutritionist. I attend school every day to pursue my career as a nutritionist, and a nutritionist is one of many jobs that help with public health. Sometimes I forget how many jobs are needed in different fields of health care in order to take care of the community. Another way public health impacts my every day life is through restaurant inspectors. I am currently a server at a restaurant that is constantly being cleaned and inspected. This is very important for the public health because if a restaurant does not pass an inspection, then many people in the community will get sick. One last way that public health impacts my every day life is through health issues that I currently have. Public heath provides help for people who can not afford all of their necessary medication. Without community help in public health care, I would not be able to save money on my medication. Overall, this was a great way to begin to learn about public health and how it effects the community.

-Shannon Harris

References:

American Public Health Association. (n.d.). What is public health? Retrieved fromhttps://www.apha.org/what-is-public-health

Turnock, B. J. (2016). Essentials of public health (3rd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Classmate Post #2

What is the difference between medicine and public health?

I didn’t know there was much of a difference between medicine and public health. I knew they coincide with each other as in, you will need medicine when your health is not at its best. According to the American public Health Association, public health promotes and protects the health of people and the communities where they live, learn, and play. Some examples of public health achievements include cleaner and safer food, cleaner work environments, and vaccinations. Furthermore, the meaning of medicine is a substance used to treat disease or illness. While medicine saves one life at a time, public health saves millions at a time (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

Public health impacts my daily life in many ways, some simpler than others. For example, washing my hands after using the restroom or handling food is an easy task but it will prevent germs and bacteria. Also, I check the expiration dates on food when I am about to make breakfast to ensure I am not putting anything harmful in my body. Moreover, I work in a warehouse so public health plays a huge role in my work environment as well. We have monthly meetings and sometimes have speakers come in to teach us how to properly stretch before lifting heavy weight or even how to sit properly at our desks to prevent future health problems.

Reference:

American Public Health Association. (n.d.). What is public health? Retrieved from https://www.apha.org/what-is-public-health

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (November 2013). United States Public Health 101. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/stltpublichealth/publichealthservices/essentialhealthservices.html

“Medicine.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, 30 May 2018, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/medicine.