New Medical Assistant
Advance to Chapter 2 Patient Bill of Rights
Health and Illness
Medical assistants must first understand the concepts of
health and illness to intelligently and skillfully perform their duties as a member of the
health care team.
Health is the functional and/or metabolic
efficiency of an organism, at any moment in time, at both the cellular and global levels.
All individual organisms, from the simplest to the most complex, vary between optimum
health and zero health (dead).
|
 |
|
Chapter 1
Health is the Absence of Disease
In the medical field, health is commonly defined as an organism's ability to efficiently respond to challenges
(stressors) and effectively restore and sustain a "state of balance," known as homeostasis. Exercise, nutrition,
and hygiene are important aspects of sustaining good health. Also the physical, mental, and emotional condition of
a person contribute greatly to the normal and proper performance of vital functions. Not only is health the absence
of disease or disability; health is also a state of soundness of the body, mind, and spirit. Conversely, the
concept of illness includes conditions often accompanied by pain or discomfort that inhibit a human being's ability
to physically, mentally, or emotionally perform in a normal and proper manner.
Illness
Abnormal conditions of the body or mind that cause discomfort, dysfunction, or distress to the person afflicted,
or those in contact with the person can be deemed an illness. Sometimes the term is used broadly to include
injuries, disabilities, syndromes, infections, symptoms, deviant behaviors, and atypical variations of structure
and function, while in other contexts these may be considered distinguishable categories. A pathogen or infectious
agent is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to its host. A passenger virus is a virus that simply
hitchhikes in the body of a person or infects the body without causing symptoms, illness or disease. Foodborne
illness or food poisoning is any illness resulting from the consumption of food contaminated with pathogenic
bacteria, toxins, viruses, prions, or parasites.
The Core Health Care Team
In most cultures, when people need assistance in maintaining their health, dealing with illness, or coping with
problems related to health and illness, they seek assistance from personnel specialized in the fields of health
care.
Physicians, physician assistants, nurses, and medical assistants are frequently referred to as
the core health care team. Obviously, individual members of the team use their skills differently,
depending upon their personal, professional, and technical training, specialty, credentials, scope of practice, and
experience. Nevertheless, and despite the differences in clinical expertise, they all share one common objective:
to respond to patient's health needs. The overall goal of this response is to assist these patients to maintain,
sustain, and restore, or rehabilitate a physical or psychological function.
Suggested Activities!
 Links:
 Medical Assistant Forum:
Advance To Next Chapter Patient's Bill of Rights
NOTE: Continue only after reading this and the previous lessons!
| 
