Universal Medicine

The eye is a vital organ within the body and enables the completion of many everyday tasks. By taking an insight into the optometry field, Universal Medicine will be exploring some common eye issues which individuals come across. Cataracts Firstly, cataracts are something which tends to occur in older individuals. To understand cataracts the stages in producing a clear image through the eye needs to be acknowledge. Primarily, to produce an image, the iris controls the amount of light which enters the pupil which allows the light to move onto the lens. Moreover, the lens will focus the light so it reaches the retina. There are receptors which can carry this information to the brain to form an image. When an individual has cataracts, the lens becomes less clear which means a misty image is produced a s th e lig ht i s no t full y focus sed ont o the retina . Furthermore, this issue could potentially start to heavily affect vision hence it needs to be treated. The scientific rea...

An ongoing battle between the Presidential candidates ended with a decisive victory for the Republican Party. Donald Trump led the campaigns for the party which witnessed controversial quotes from the man himself whilst the campaigns continued. Although we are not going to look at the President-elect today, we are going to look at how the national healthcare of the United States of America is going to be affected. In 2010, Barack Obama introduced a  Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act  (PPACA) to the United States of America on the 23rd of March. This PPACA was signed in order to grant American citizens more affordable healthcare (similar to NHS). With a population of over 308 million in 2010, this was an immense number of people looking for healthcare and the introduction of a new scheme to this sized population seemed like a dangerous task. Although, after 6 years from the introduction, the scheme has had its pros and cons. For example, a pro is that tens of mi...

This week on Universal Medicine, we will explore the shift in guidelines proposed by the RCS – Royal College of Surgeons. Traditionally, a paternalistic approach has been adopted in regards to providing treatment. This encapsulates the ideology that the doctor “knows best” and restricts the freedom of decision by the patients. However, this approach has led to hospitals being taken to court if the decision ends up inflicting harm. NHS trusts have had to pay out more than £1.4 billion during 2015-2016 (figure by NHS Litigation Authority). Consequently, the RCS has put forward a new guideline which means that clinicians are now required to present all options and let the patient decide – an approach following from the principles of autonomy. Autonomy is a key pillar of medical ethics whereby patients have the self-government over their health: they are free to make a decision as to which treatment is  to be undertaken. Certainly, as presented by Leslie Hamilton – RCS council memb...