At the same time, Slow Medicine refers to an idea and a network of professionals born in Italy in 2011 in close relation with the Slow Food movement .
The idea comes from the meeting of people who work in the health field and who, for several years, carried out research on the health system from various points of view, from the organization to the methodology.
Slow Medicine proposes and promotes appropriate and good quality care, adequate communication between patients and professionals, a reduction in the costs of healthcare organization and waste, sustainability and equity of health systems and improvement of the quality of life .
In an interview, Gianfranco Domenighetti, co-founder of Slow Medicine believes that "an important result of this initiative is that we tell public opinion that not everything is necessary, useful and effective what is proposed by medical rationality. Which is already something, given that 70 or 80% of the population believe that medicine is an exact science ".
The goals of Slow Medicine
These are the objectives of the initiative, expressed in the Slow Medicine website:
- Respect the times of mutual knowledge, those of health and illness, care and care.
- Put the relationship between the healthcare professional and the patient at the center of the care intervention, making them both active and cooperative.
- To seek the right balance between the use of technologies and therapies of proven efficacy, respect for the person treated and their preferences and attention to economic and environmental resources.
- Develop prevention, information, health promotion and education in balanced and sober behavior as a method for enhancing the health heritage.
- Promote the concepts of effective, appropriate and personalized care, possible rehabilitation and enhancement of residual capacities as opposed to excessive care and the search for healing at all costs.
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The key words of Slow Medicine: respectful, just and sober
In order to achieve these goals, Slow Medicine must possess certain characteristics: it must be sober, respectful and just .
- A sober medicine acts with moderation, graduality and essentiality with the aim of safeguarding the balance of the environment and the integrity of the ecosystem . Sober medicine, therefore, contrasts with the trend of excessive consumption of health services induced by the diffusion of new treatments and new diagnostic procedures which excessively increase patients' expectations, but which do not always translate into greater benefits.
- A respectful medicine welcomes the values, preferences and orientations of the patient, with whom he establishes an honest, careful and complete communication.
- A right medicine counteracts inequalities and facilitates access to social and health services, overcomes the fragmentation of care and promotes the exchange of information and knowledge between professionals.
What is a "slow" cure?
The "slow" cure should not be thought of as a "slow" cure in the literal sense of the word, but accurate (not hasty) and timely (not hasty).
This type of treatment privileges methods that facilitate the active participation of patients : for example, it uses listening and dialogue together with clinical competence and the appropriate use of diagnostic and therapeutic technologies.
An active and dynamic network of ideas
The founders of Slow Medicine define the initiative as a network of constantly expanding and moving ideas, in which everyone can contribute with their own thoughts and experiences.
This network involves health professionals, citizens, associations of professionals, patients and family members, with the aim of activating moments of confrontation and creating collaborative design laboratories for good practices of help and care according to the principles of Slow Medicine.
