Biomedical and Biopsychosocial Models of Healthcare

Biomedical and Biopsychosocial Models of Healthcare Critical Evaluation on the Future of Healthcare: The Biomedical or the Biopsychosocial Model The Biomedical Model This model has been in existence since the mid-19 th century and was predominant for physicians in the diagnosis of diseases. It comprises of four elements. It argues that, that health constitutes the freedom of pain, disease or defect which implies the normal human is healthy. In this model, the focus on the physical processes such as biochemistry, physiology and pathology of a disease do not take into consideration the role played by individual subjectivity or social factors. Unlike the biopsychosocial model, the biomedical model fails to consider negotiation between a doctor and patient in determining diagnosis. The main focus in this model is purely biological factors. It excludes social influences, environment and the psychological ones. Western countries have adopted it as a leading modern way for which health professionals treat and diagnose conditions. Regardles s of the limitations that this model expresses, it has been critical in the development of programs to control infectious diseases. In addition, it feeds more information to the biopsychosocial approach (White, 2009). The Biopsychosocial Model This is an approach that states that psychological, social and biological factors all play a key role in the human functioning in relation to illness and disease. Health is thus understood by concentrating on biological, social and psychological factors rather than entirely focusing on biological terms. It contrasts to biomedical model. Biomedical model takes the position that every disease process can be explained in accordance to deviations in normal functions such as injury, developmental abnormality in genes or virus (White, 2009). This model is used in the fields of medicine, health sociology and psychology and nursing. The acceptance, novelty and prevalence of the biopsychosocial model demonstrates variation across cultures. The model ha s been developing over time and will only mature further with health psychology designs and research. The Future of Healthcare The biopsychosocial model is at the heart of the future of healthcare. Specialization in healthcare has advanced to fields of health psychology, psychiatry, chiropractic, clinical psychology, family therapy and clinical social work. Majority of clinicians will engage the elements of biopsychosocial and biomedical models in the practices they engage in. However, it is arguable that all illnesses whether functional or organic can be managed best going by the biopsychosocial framework rather than the biomedical in practice. The two models seem to share the same goal which is improving the improvement of the patient’s well-being. What differs is the scope on which the physician considers impairment including its origin and the possible remedies. The biopsychosocial framework expands the meaning of this goal and applies it in clinical processes. Illness is approached as the subjective sense of suffering by the patient. The goal of managing the disease thus needs to identify the specific exposures of the patient which are biological, social and psychological. Potential Disabilities of the Biomedical Model The biomedical model will lose its position in the future of healthcare as it assumes that social and psychological processes are irrelevant to the disease’s process. The potential disabilities it exposes are massive. It mainly has three liabilities. First, the model is reductionist in nature. It reduces illness to lower level processes. These include chemical imbalances and disordered cells. It thus fails to recognize the general role of psychological and social determinants. Secondly, the model is a single-factor model. The explanation for illness is in terms of biological malfunctions rather that recognition of a variety of factors with only a few being biological in the causation of illness. The third liability is that the model assumes a mind-body dualism. It maintains that the body and mind are two separate entities. The final but not least liability is that the model puts more emphasis on illness over health. The focus is aberrations that cause illness instead of the conditions that would promote health.