Health science
Health science is the name given to the helping professions that use applied science to improve health and to treat disease. There are a number of very different disciplines within the health sciences, each having its own training and educational requirements for practice. The similarities between the disciplines have to do with responsibility and duty to the client. Because health science professionals are entrusted with the personal secrets of their clients (patients), and because their decisions directly influence their clients' lives, almost all countries have some kind of licensing requirement for practitioners of the allied health sciences.
Of course, not all health care practitioners are involved in the health sciences. Healing arts developed long before the sciences matured, and traditional practices are the mainstay of healthcare in many communities in the world.
Collaboration between the different health science professions can act as a check and balance against medical errors and offer better health care. For example, when a patient in the hospital is given a powerful drug through an intravenous drip the physician orders the drug, the pharmacist prepares it and the nurse administers it. Each of these professionals evaluates the patient either directly by an interview and examination, or indirectly through review of the medical record. Each brings a different perspective to the same treatment, and, working together, increase the liklihood that the patient will receive proper care. When treatment of a disease is very complex, requiring many different treatments along with different tests and examinations of the body, co-ordination of care demands the efforts of a team of health science professionals.
Until recently, there has been little training of teams of different kinds of healthcare professionals in the mechanics of working together. However, as medical care has become increasingly complex, some educators have focused on educating teams of diverse health science professionals. (Davidson RA. Waddell R. A historical overview of interdisciplinary family health: a community-based interprofessional health professions course. [Review] [24 refs] [Journal Article. Review] Academic Medicine. 80(4):334-8, 2005 Apr. UI: 15793015)(Gilkey MB. Earp JA. Effective interdisciplinary training: lessons from the University of North Carolina's student health action coalition. [Journal Article] Academic Medicine. 81(8):749-58, 2006 Aug. UI: 16868433).
Historical overview
See Medical research.