Medicine is an art, science, and discipline of treating a patient with a view toward restoring health and treating the ailment, the outcome, prevention or cure of the patient. Medicine encompasses a wide variety of medical practices developed over time to keep and restore total health by the effective prevention and cure of disease. These practices are often based on ethical principles such as freedom of choice, privacy, proportionality, reliability, safety, and consistency in providing health care services. Most importantly, medicine addresses the whole person by dealing with the whole body, mind and spirit. This entails that all healthcare practitioners should be involved in planning, administering and monitoring health-related treatments to ensure the best possible outcomes and to provide patients with peace of mind, knowing that they are getting the best treatment and the right care.
Developing nations have limited access to medical supplies, equipment, medicines, diagnostics and preventive health services and facilities. The lack of medical education, knowledge and training limits the capacity of medical practitioners to provide quality health services. Thus developing countries have high infant mortality rates and health expenditure levels. The main reasons for these poor health outcomes are lack of adequate infrastructure, inappropriate medical technology, inefficient health management systems, inadequate access to quality medical care and non-compliance by medical practitioners with professional ethics and standards of practice. The need for comprehensive health services is thus required in order to improve quality of life and health and to ensure sustainability of the health care systems.
The management of essential medicines is one of the important components of medicine that involves drugs, chemicals and procedures aimed at achieving the most effective treatment of the ailment. With the advancement of science and medicine, the scope of medicines has widened and new discoveries in drug synthesis have resulted in the discovery of innumerable essential medicines and their cures. However, overuse and misuse of some drugs lead to various complications.
There are two main articles on the subject of prescription drugs. These are called as the primary article and the secondary article. The primary article covers the rules that govern the sale and distribution of drugs. This includes the content, form and regulations pertaining to the manufacture, distribution, prescribing, dispensation, possession, disposal and related facts. The secondary article on the other hand provides information on the adverse effects of the medicine, if any, on children, adolescents, pregnant women and others. It also covers the various risks associated with drug use and its control.
While writing an article on this topic, it should be kept in mind that all the information provided here should not be considered as medical advice. The main article is only meant to provide information for the readers who are interested in taking up a career in drug administration. Such individuals should consult their physician or a qualified medical practitioner before taking up a career in this field. It is recommended to take up some basic and advanced pharmaceutical subjects in their courses so as to broaden their knowledge on the subject.
After reading the main article, a student can proceed to write an essay, either a research paper or a review article to add to the existing body of knowledge on a particular subject. Such topics that are likely to draw some interesting response from students are future trends in medicine, the history of drug discovery, the impact of new drugs on human health, and the way new drugs are developed. In addition, such papers may include an introduction to the philosophy of drug discovery, the history of drug research, and the current status of drug discovery in medicine.