RESUMEN
Medicine today is a field of permanent tensions: between structures and individuals, between public policies and individualised patient care, and between patients and their therapists. This article reflects on the notion of care as a way of resolving the problems encountered by health professions by considering one of their fundamental concepts. For this purpose, research was carried out in the medical literature in order to understand the definitions in which care is discussed in current medicine. Based on the findings, three paradigms or constructs related to the notion of care are detailed: a) Patient Centered Care, b) the ethics of care, and c) the idea of Whole Person Care. Even with the notable differences between these constructs, it is possible to rescue the framework of care: the objective being for the good of the patient. Thus, a proposal for the reflection on caring for others is developed, based on what is the concept of â³objective good for the personâ³ in accordance with the thinking of the philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand.
RESUMEN
La medicina actual es un campo de tensiones permanentes: entre las estructuras y los individuos, entre las políticas públicas y la atención individualizada de los pacientes, y entre estos y sus terapeutas. En el presente artículo se reflexiona acerca de la noción de cuidado como una forma de regresar la problemática de las profesiones relacionadas con la salud a uno de sus conceptos fundamentales. Con esta finalidad, se investigó en la literatura médica para recuperar los términos en los que se discute acerca del cuidado en la medicina actual. A partir de los hallazgos realizados, se detallan tres paradigmas o constructos referidos a la noción de cuidado: a) Patient Centered Care, b) la ética del cuidado, y c) la idea del Whole Person Care. Aun con las notables diferencias entre estos constructos es posible rescatar el marco del cuidado: el bien objetivo del paciente. Así, se desarrolla una propuesta de reflexión sobre el cuidar de otros sustentada en el concepto de bien objetivo para la persona proveniente del pensamiento del filósofo Dietrich von Hildebrand.
Medicine today is a field of permanent tensions: between structures and individuals, between publicpolicies and individualised patient care, and between patients and their therapists. This article reflects on the notion of care as a way of resolving the problems encountered by health professions by considering one of their fundamental concepts. For this purpose, research was carried out in the medical literature in order to understand the definitions in which care is discussed in current medicine. Based on the findings, three paradigms or constructs related to the notion of care are detailed: a) Patient Centered Care, b) the ethics of care, and c) the idea of Whole Person Care. Even with the notable differences between these constructs, it is possible to rescue the framework of care: the objective being for the good of the patient. Thus, a proposal for the reflection on caring for others is developed, based on what is the concept of objective good for the person in accordance with the thinking of the philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand.
