The Human Organism: Health and Disease

The outlines in the four sections of Division II treat the structures and functions of the human body; human health; the manifestation, recognition, and treatment of human disease; and the practice of medicine.

The outline referred to in Section 421 deals with the structures and the functions of the several organ systems, the proper coordination and regulation of which constitute the health of the human body.

The outline in Section 422 begins with an enumeration of the stages in human life and the definitions of normality in human health. It then treats of the various ways that the body maintains itself and recovers from injury. The Section concludes with a listing of other significant influences on human health.

The outline in Section 423 first treats the general characteristics, causes, and classifications of human disease. It then treats the concepts, principles, and methods of the medical art, in the two stages of diagnosis and therapy. The outline encompasses the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases that affect the body as a whole, and of diseases that affect each of the organ systems dealt with in their healthy state in Section 421.

The outline in Section 424 deals with issues relating to the professionalization of the practice of medicine-- not only those internal to the profession but also those arising from the educational, economic, social, political, and legal dimensions of institutionalized medicine.

Section 42 1. The Structures and Functions of the Human Body 146 422. Human Health 150 423. Human Diseases 151 424. The Practice of Medicine and the Care of Health 158