Chiropractic
Chiropractic medicine has found it’s original roots with its founding by DD Palmer in 1895. He is often credited with the culmination of many of the base practices that would evolve itself into the current profession that we see today. Many of the original writings are divisive to current critics, but it is widely accepted that medicine and knowledge for the body were not standardized or modern. In the 1950s Chiropractic medicine was in the process of establishing licensing and higher education standards to be more widely accepted in the mainstream medicine sphere. Eventually it would gain more legitimacy, with many of it’s “quack” practices being pushed out of the curriculum in favor of greater evidence based knowledge and education. In the 1980s, Chiropractic medicine could be seen to have reached it’s point of full acceptance as a matured rehabilitation practice, but still with many detractors about it’s full ability and legitimacy. Our current period of the 21st century has seen chiropractors be widely accepted and often recommended, they are covered by many health insurance providers, as well as respected doctors of chiropractic medicine are used by doctors post surgery to provide care.
Paramedic
Putting a date on the inception of Emergency Medical Services is difficult. Throughout human existence, the treatment of injuries and maladies has been the role of many different consortia. From tribal doctors, ancient to premodern wartime surgeons, and on to modern paramedics, EMS has been an aspect of many different societal or occupational roles. The birth of the modern US paramedic, however, is a much easier date to distinguish. The formalization of EMS training began in 1970 during the Nixon presidency. However, the need for EMS reform was brought to light several years prior. In 1966, a report named Accidental Death and Disability: The Neglected Disease of Modern Society found its way to, then President, Lyndon B. Johnson’s desk. This report, which came to be known as “the White Paper,” found that accidental injuries were the leading cause of American death in the first half of one’s life span. The report highlighted car accidents across the United States, but especially those in California. At the time, soldiers wounded in the Vietnam War had a higher chance of surviving from their wounds than someone in a car accident on California’s highway system. As a result of the White Paper’s findings, LBJ initiated a series of reforms that came to a head under Nixon’s first few years in office. In collaboration with universities and hospitals, the first curriculum for an emergency medical technician (EMT) was established by an association of doctors in Pittsburg. The first EMT certification necessitated 400 hours of class and lab work followed by a 100-hour field internship. Modern EMT and paramedic certifications are all predicated upon and modified from this original formula. By 1972, Americans could expect high-level emergency response care to be found in all major metropolitan areas. The curriculum for EMTs and paramedics has been continuously updated since, but we can attribute a large share of the modern EMS structure to the White Paper (Edgerly, 2013).
Radiologist
Radiology is a branch of medicine that focuses on imaging technology to treat and diagnose illnesses. Radiology is currently divided into two areas: diagnostic radiology and interventional radiology (BIR, 2024). Diagnostic radiology deals with seeing structures inside of the body. Diagnostic images can often: diagnose the cause of symptoms, monitor treatment, and screen for different illnesses. Diagnostic radiology first became an area of science when Wilhelm Röntgen discovered x-rays in 1985. Röntgen discovered them accidentally while experimenting with fluorescence in a vacuum tube. The first x-ray produced was his wife’s hand bones. Medical professionals used x-rays early on to locate foreign objects and to identify bone structure. Diagnostic radiology has since evolved and radiologists have crafted more technology such as ultrasound, positron emission tomography (PET), and computerized tomography (CT) (NLM, 2024). Interventional radiology deals with imaging to help guide procedures. Doctors use these images to insert catheters, wires, and other small things into the human body. This kind of radiology is used as an easier alternative to bigger incisions or uses a scope (camera) to look directly into the body. Interventional radiology was first discovered in 1964 by Charles Dotter. Dotter used a guide wire and Teflon catheter to dilate a stenosed artery in an 82-year-old woman with gangrene and leg ischemia. There are now plenty of interventional radiology procedures such as angiography, embolization, and feeding tube placement (ACR, 2024).