East Meets West

By Harry M. Zollars, Catherine Dana Santanello, Marcelo J. Nieto

Abstract

Ying is sick and is progressively getting worse. His parents' clashing views on Eastern and Western medicine prevent them from agreeing on a course of treatment. As the case unfolds, students follow the progression of their son's illness. After a physician is finally seen and the results of tests are evident, students should be able to narrow the list of possible etiological agents and suggest a potential treatment. In addition, the students should integrate the different health beliefs into the final treatment as well as the aspects of patient counseling. The case works well as an interrupted case that can be assigned to individual students or student teams. This case is appropriate for graduate courses with a component in health care, therapeutics, medicinal chemistry, medicinal plants, microbiology, epidemiology, or cultural competency. Instructors can choose to focus only on the medical components of the case or incorporate the cultural and ethical aspects, depending on course goals and subject area.

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Date Posted

04/04/2014

Overview

Objectives

Evaluate the complex issues that emerge when diagnosing and treating disease states that could be caused by numerous etiological agents.
Anticipate and act on potential complications that may arise in treating infectious disease states.
Review the basic symptoms caused by various etiological agents and the body's immune system response to the specific pathogen.
Analyze how the microbiological properties of an infectious agent tie together with the appropriate therapeutic agents and their medicinal chemistry.
Rationalize and defend choice of optimal therapeutic treatments.
Compare and contrast the typical presentation of viral and bacterial respiratory disorders.
Apply critical thinking skills to evaluate the primary biomedical literature that describes the antipyretic efficacy of herbals.
Describe treatment approaches and principles of traditional Chinese herbal medicine.
Develop counseling skills for patients' whose beliefs in conventional medicine may differ from their own.
Demonstrate awareness of tools that can be used to effectively communicate with patients in a cross-cultural setting.

Keywords

Infectious disease; Strep throat; Streptococcus pyogenes; pharyngitis; antibiotics; medicinal plants; herbal medicine; alternative medicine; traditional Chinese medicine; cultural competency; medical ethics; bioethics

Subject Headings

Epidemiology

Interdisciplinary Sciences

Medicinal Chemistry

Medicine (General)

Microbiology

Pharmacy / Pharmacology

EDUCATIONAL LEVEL

Graduate, Professional (degree program), Clinical education

FORMAT

PDF

TOPICAL AREAS

Ethics, Scientific argumentation, Social issues

LANGUAGE

English

TYPE/METHODS

Analysis (Issues), Discussion, Interrupted, Problem-Based Learning, Role-Play

Teaching Notes & Answer Key

Teaching Notes

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Answer Key

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