Health Care: Indigenous And Non-Indigenous Patients

Socrates (4th century BC philosopher) once quoted on about treating only one part of the body, “For the part can never be well unless the whole is well.”
Understanding health through a holistic approach could be define as reflecting and articulate on understanding of health, able to accept changes or to compromise the system or health policies or institutional rules to better understand the psychological aspect of a patients problem; whilst improving the communication, improving trust and treatment compliance among patient doctor relationship (1).
My understanding as a future healthcare practitioner in holistic approach to healthcare, is that it will bring a better understanding of a patient and creating mutual trust among each other, thus improving communication and compliance; helping us healthcare practitioners utilising our skills fully in treating both Indigenous and non-Indigenous patients. But when it comes to applying holistic methods in healthcare in Australia, methods of treatment in Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous Australian patients are to be very different.
Healthcare practitioners might find compliance of Indigenous Australian little or non-existence, even if they do have a breakthrough in communications and treatment, illness may still persist.
May be that Indigenous Australian’s health it is holistic, and it’s a conglomeration of mental, physical, cultural and spiritual health. Crucially, it need to be understood fully that when the harmony of these interrelations is disrupted, ill health would still persist. Healthcare practitioners need to understand and recognise that improving Indigenous health status must include attending to physical, spiritual and social well-being. Such framework in was developed by the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Council, it is also agreed to by all governments to provide extensive consultations
(12).
Non-Indigenous Australian patient’s compliance may be full and helpful though applying holistic method, as seen in hypothetical scenarios created in (13), full holistic treatments might not fully work when it comes to fully treating nor even diagnosing the risk of a myocardial infarction. When only using THE ‘HOLISTIC’ APPROACH, treating nor diagnosing someone wouldn’t be very effective, and sometimes even bad or harmful; especially when an illness persist or worsen.
Using a holistic approach to healthcare needs to be balance between the holistic and conventional approach. As it’s describe in (14), the perspective of health need to be viewed phenomenologically, As the core of health is integration of mental and physical wellbeing, and the opposite of health is not disease but rather ill-health caused by the lack of integration. A sign of good health is a sign of wellness, which exists if a balance between the integration of one's psychophysical, social and spiritual abilities to function (14).