Rationale for the New Curriculum Development
Health requires continuous development and improvement, so a holistic approach to patient care is becoming increasingly valuable. To respond to this challenge, medical assistants must also study an updated curriculum that will prepare students to provide comprehensive care in the new working environment. Curriculum development underscores the importance of a holistic approach to patient care and the growing demand for trained holistic health professionals.
The primary purpose of developing the new Holistic Medical Assistant curriculum is to provide students with the knowledge and skills they can use to provide medical assistance in their future medical practice. The essence of holistic medicine is man’s acceptance that the body and mind are connected and work together to ensure the general welfare of life (Craig, 2022). This proves that the world is becoming more complex, so the familiar problems require more modern and innovative solutions.
The holistic approach also includes understanding the principles of maintaining the holistic health of the body (Glatthorn et al., 2019). The integrity aspect consists of the availability of alternative therapies and a constant consideration of the ethical dimension in dealing with the patient. The new curriculum aims to develop critical thinking in students that will meet the different needs of patients for medical care (Tsai & Yan, 2021). Because now the competence of the doctor is determined not only by his knowledge but also by the attitude to the patient, it is also essential for the specialist to be educated and pleasant in communication.
Main Objectives of the New Program Development
In the curriculum, it is crucial to apply the principles of integrated health care, but it is also essential to determine the program’s main objectives.
Full Understanding of Holistic Health Principles
This goal is fundamental when talking about alternative therapies, which currently have a massive number for almost any disease (Prescott & Logan, 2019). This goal is entirely objective, as it determines the qualifications of a modern doctor and his or her willingness to take responsibility for providing quality results to patients.
Development of Nutritional Counseling Skills and Harmony Between Mind and Body
This aspect is a consequence of the human focus on observing a healthy lifestyle in modern times (Li et al., 2022). The population’s interest in a healthy life results in the need for specialists who can provide quality assistance on the path to change.
Integration of Traditional and Alternative Treatments for Patients
In this case, the specialist who can carry out such integration will be able to provide assistance focused on the patient, which means ensuring more effective medicine (Villanueva-Cabezas et al., 2022). Thus, it is essential for future specialists not only to look for an alternative treatment but also to apply traditional knowledge in their work.
Recognition of Ethical Dilemmas in the Work of a Medical Specialist
Holistic medicine has its own characteristic difficulties, which oblige the specialist to respect both medical ethics and the laws of the state (Patel et al., 2019). This aspect guarantees the equal treatment of every patient by a doctor.
Applying a Holistic Approach to Improving Mental Health
This point is particularly relevant to emergencies where it is vital for a patient to feel the support of a specialist (Huang et al., 2019). By keeping the patient calm, better results are achieved in treatment.
The Scope of the New Curriculum
Core Topics
The main themes of the updated curriculum are the concepts of energy medicine, the relationship between body and mind, and the relationship between medicine and ethics, which are unique to holistic medicine. The core curriculum is broad and covers a wide range of subjects. In this way, students can get a better idea of alternative treatments that are capable of challenging traditional ones (Craig, 2022). For example, the alternative methods include phytotherapy and analgesia, which, although they appeared in medicine relatively long ago, are still not used in treatment on a large scale. Expanding the knowledge of young professionals in the person of students will allow us to have more evidence about the effectiveness of new treatment methods in modern conditions and the practicality of their application.
Electives
In addition to having core topics to be included in the updated curriculum, students can also attend many optional courses. These courses will allow students to adapt their interests to their education and, as a consequence, to career aspirations. In this case, the complexity of the approach ensures that students, after graduation from university, can offer potential patients help that will combine the best practices of modern medicine (Yuan, 2019).
For example, students may choose electives such as aromatherapy or homeopathy, holistic pediatrics, or Eastern medicine. All these directions are different, but all of them give students knowledge that has a narrow specificity and allow young professionals to become more versatile in their future careers. In this way, future doctors can meet a broader range of patients’ needs and desires.
Consistency of the Updated Course
First, throughout the first semester, students should study basic human anatomy and physiology, which will allow them to understand the human body system better. In parallel with the study of specific sciences, students will be able to study medical terminology, which will allow them in the future to communicate successfully and effectively with colleagues in medical institutions.
In the second semester, students should expect more specialized courses, which include “Basic clinical procedures”. During this course, each student will be offered lessons that will focus on the specialization they have chosen for their future career. The curriculum should also include the study of ethical and legal norms in the field of medicine, as it promotes the education of responsible and honest doctors (Wong & Luk, 2020). For six weeks, students can also practice in a medical institution, which will increase their readiness to apply treatment approaches (Glatthorn et al., 2019). Finally, the introduction of first aid in emergencies should be mandatory for all professionals.
Components of Student Assessment
Both written examinations and practical work should be used for the assessment of students. The written component will qualitatively test the theoretical knowledge of students. However, applicable skills are necessary to determine clinical skills in a future specialist. Thanks to the evaluation of student activity in the classes, the teacher will be able to assess better the level of critical thinking in the student and his or her involvement in the educational process, which will allow faster to draw conclusions about the student’s academic achievements.
It is also essential for teachers to develop students’ self-esteem skills, as students will need to evaluate their actions towards patients and make their own decisions on the provision of appropriate care after graduation. In this way, students will be better prepared to meet the demand for practicing professionals in the future through quality assessment. The new program is designed to ensure that holistic health care is staffed by new, qualified personnel who can provide first-class care in the shortest possible time. The complexity of the proposed curriculum will allow the provision of complete patient treatment in conditions of increasing interconnectedness of medical processes.
References
Craig, C. (2022). Design for health: a holistic approach. Design for Health (Abingdon, England), 6(2), 135–137. Web.
Glatthorn, A. A., Boschee, F., Whitehead, B. M., & Boschee, B. F. (2019). Curriculum leadership: Strategies for development and implementation.
Huang, Y., Monrouxe, L. V., & Huang, C.-D. (2019). The influence of narrative medicine on medical students’ readiness for holistic care practice: a realist synthesis protocol. BMJ Open, 9(8), e029588. Web.
Li, T., Hu, X., & Chi, I. (2022). A systematic review of randomized controlled trials on interventions adopting body-mind-spirit (BMS) model on holistic well-being. Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine, 27. Web.
Patel, S., Klagholz, S., Peterson, C. T., Weiss, L., Chopra, D., & Mills, P. J. (2019). Psychosocial effects of a holistic ayurvedic approach to well-being in health and wellness courses. Global Advances in Health and Medicine, 8. Web.
Prescott, S. L., & Logan, A. C. (2019). Planetary health: From the wellspring of holistic medicine to personal and public health imperative. Explore (New York, N.Y.), 15(2), 98–106. Web.
Tsai, L.-M., & Yan, Y.-H. (2021). A preliminary study on applying holistic health care model on medical education behavioral intention: a theoretical perspective of planned behavior. BMC Medical Education, 21(1). Web.
Villanueva-Cabezas, J. P., Winkel, K. D., Campbell, P. T., Wiethoelter, A., & Pfeiffer, C. (2022). One Health education should be early, inclusive, and holistic. The Lancet. Planetary Health, 6(3), e188–e189. Web.
Wong, W. F., & Luk, A. L. (2020). A randomized control study on the effectiveness of Holistic Health Practice Program on a group of baccalaureate nursing students. The Open Nursing Journal, 14(1), 56–63. Web.
Yuan, B. (2019). Toward holistic medicine and holistic biology: life sciences after precision medicine and systems biology. Frontiers in Life Science, 12(1), 14–26. Web.