Medicine Merit Badge
MEDICINE
- Discuss with your counselor the influence that EIGHT of the following people had on the history of medicine:
- Hippocrates
- William Harvey
- Antonie van Leewenhoek
- Edward Jenner
- Florence Nightingale
- Louis Pasteur
- Gregor Mendel
- Joseph Lister
- Robert Koch
- Daniel Hale Williams
- Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen
- Marie and Pierre Curie
- Walter Reed
- Karl Landsteiner
- Alexander Fleming
- Charles Richard Drew
- Helen Raussig
- James Watson and Francis Crick
- Jonas Salk
- Explain the Hippocratic Oath to your counselor, and compare the original version to a more modern one. Discuss to whom those subscribing to the original version of the oath owe the greatest allegiance.
- Discuss the health-care provider—patient relationship with your counselor, and the importance of such a relationship in the delivery of quality care to the patient. Describe the role of confidentiality in this relationship.
- Do the following:
- Describe the roles the following people play in the delivery of health care in your state. (Note: Not all may exist in your state.)
- Allopathic physician
- Chiropractor
- Emergency medical technician
- Licensed practical/vocational nurse
- Medical assistant
- Medical laboratory technologist
- Nurse-midwife
- Nurse practitioner
- Occupational therapist
- Optometrist
- Osteopathic physician
- Pharmacist
- Physical therapist
- Physician's assistant
- Podiatrist
- Psychologist
- Radiologic technologist
- Registered nurse
- Respiratory therapist
- Describe the educational and licensing requirements for five of those in 4a—other than 4a(1)—practicing health care in your state.
- (a) Tell what is meant by the term "primary care" with regard to a medical specialty. Briefly describe the types of work done by physicians in the following "core" specialties:
- Internal medicine*
- Family practice*
- Obstetrics/gynecology*
- Pediatrics*
- Psychiatry
- Surgery
- Do the following:
- Briefly describe the types of work performed by physicians in FIVE of the following specialties or subspecialties:
- Allergy/immunology
- Anesthesiology
- Cardiology
- Colon and rectal surgery
- Dermatology
- Emergency medicine
- Endocrinology
- Gastroenterology
- Geriatric medicine
- Hematology/oncology
- Infectious disease
- Nephrology
- Neuro surgery
- Neurology
- Nuclear medicine
- Ophthalmology
- Orthopedic surgery
- Otolaryngology/head and neck surgery
- Pathology
- Physical medicine and rehabilitation
- Plastic, reconstructive, and maxillofacial surgery
- Preventive medicine
- Radiology
- Rheumatology
- Thoracic/cardiothoracic surgery
- Urology
- Vascular surgery
- Describe the additional educational requirements for the five specialties or subspecialties you chose in 6a.
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- Visit a physician's office**, preferably one who delivers " primary care." (This may be that of your counselor.) Discuss the components of a medical history and physical examination (an official BSA health form may be used to guide this discussion), and become familiar with the instruments used.
- Describe the characteristics of a good diagnostic test to screen for disease (e.g., routine blood pressure measurement). Explain briefly why diagnostic tests are not "perfect."
- Show how to take a blood pressure and a pulse reading.
- Do the following:
- Discuss the roles medical societies, employers, the insurance industry, and the government play in influencing the practice of medicine in the United States.
- Briefly tell how your state monitors the quality of health care within its borders, and how it provides care to those who do not have health insurance.
- Discuss with your counselor the health-care delivery systems in the United States, Sweden, and China.
- Serve as a volunteer at a health-related event or facility in your community (e.g., blood drive, "health fair," blood pressure screening, etc.) approved by your counselor.