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Allopathic medicine is what I interact with most. Allopathic medicine is what most people know as modern Western medicine based on science. Diseases and illnesses are treated with a remedy of medicine or surgical intervention. Think of the remedy as the opposite of the disease. The treatment does not permit the condition to thrive by producing an inhospitable environment in the host (Anderson & Jacobson, 2013). For example, a patient has bacterial pneumonia, allopathic medicinal treatment would be with antibiotics. The antibiotics will not allow the bacteria to thrive.
Homeopathic medicine is an alternative medical system to Allopathic medicine. Interestingly, Allopathy came to be by a German doctor, Samuel Hahnemann. He is the same doctor that founded Homeopathy. Why is this interesting? Homeopathy can equate to fighting fire with fire. How can a fire be extinguished with fire? How can an illness be treated with remedies that produce the same symptoms as the illness? I equate this to being vaccinated with a “live vaccine.” The live vaccine has an agent like the disease to mimic the disease, which then activates the immune response’s reaction. Anderson and Jacobson (2013) acknowledged Hahnemann wrote, “… what the remedy does is to excite the “vis medicatrix,” or rather, the process of natural cure; the medicine does not “cure” in itself or due to its mere presence, but rather by the vital reaction it provokes” (p. 160). Allopathy and Homeopathy are opposing approaches of medicine that the same doctor founded, which is why it is interesting.
Allopathy and Homeopathy take similar approaches to assessing patients. A review of systems and symptoms are included in the assessments to identify or diagnose the illness. The difference between the allopath and homeopath provider is with the rendered treatment. Constipation is a common ailment for patients during hospitalization. Treatment by the allopathic provider would be with known medicinal products such as Colace, Miralax, or magnesium citrate. Constipation pathophysiology can be related to decreased bowel motility. The opposition would be to increase motility medicinally. Homeopathic provider treatment for constipation would address the intestines bacteria that disrupt the normal flora of the intestines. The disruption of the balance of bacteria in the gut can lead to many intestinal ailments, including constipation. A homeopathic treatment to balance the intestinal bacterial flora would be with probiotics. A probiotic is a microorganism to restore the intestinal flora to normal and ease ailments such as constipation. Small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) can clinically present with bloating, abdominal pain, abdominal distension, constipation, or diarrhea. In a study conducted to compare metronidazole or a probiotic treatment for SIBO, the response was favorable statistically for probiotic treatment along with integrated dietary changes, botanical therapies, and homeopathic medicine (Kwiatkowski et al., 2017).
The worldview of Allopathic medicine is evidence-based practice. Diseases are studied and treated systematically to collect data and prove what treatments are efficacious. Homeopathic medicine’s worldview can correlate to therapy that enhances the body’s energies with diluted supplements that would normally be toxic to cure the body’s ailments. Without the support of the scientifically proven hypothesis, homeopathic medicine has not progressed.
The patient’s worldview on health, illness, and medical treatments are relative to their belief system. If a patient has a worldview of natural remedies, a doctor of osteopathy would be beneficial, or a naturopathic approach would support their worldview. What is essential is for the nurse to keep an open mind to others’ worldviews and not show bias to the patients’ beliefs.
A nurse would support the clients who base their healthcare on alternative medical worldviews, but the Christian nurse takes it a step further. The Christian nurse better understands and appreciates patients’ differences and embraces cultural knowledge and diversity. “… a devotion to God and love of neighbor” (Campinha-Bacote, 2005).
