exist useful similarities
The professional healthcare system is inherently different from the folk care health system although there exist useful similarities. For one, professional care is characterized by professional or specialised education and training. Doctors, nurses and other professional healthcare providers undergo vigorous academic and practicum training for the to acquire the requisite skills as well as acquire practising licenses. Under the folk care system, although practitioners may undergo some form of training through apprenticeship, the same is not formal. Also, fork care practitioners such as lay midwives and spiritual healers are not licensed (Coreil, 2015). Secondly, professional healthcare is based on scientific and internationally recognized standards of health such as disease prevention, medical treatment patient ethics, etc. However, the folk care systems are based on cultural or religious beliefs and therefore differ between cultures, religions and other ethnic lines. This is because folk care systems across different settings embody the values, beliefs and treatment approaches of the particular cultural group in which its participants belong (Edelman, Mandle, & Kudzma, 2013). Lastly, as a result of the adherence to international standards, professional healthcare systems are organized, formal and structured unlike folk care systems that are diversified, informal and lack in structural uniformity. However, it is important to note that within a specific category of folk care say among rural Chinese practitioners. It is possible to identify a semblance of formality and uniformity.
Allopathy or allopathic medicine refers to a health system that relies on mainstream medicine and other mainstream healthcare practices. It can also be referred to as conventional, orthodox, western or mainstream medicine (Trimble & Rajaraman, 2017). It is the contemporary form of healthcare experienced in civilised societies today, where healthcare professionals such as doctors, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, therapists and other healthcare professionals undergo professional training and are afterwards licensed to provide healthcare services including the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. In allopathic medicine, the dominant care system is the professional as opposed to the folk care systems and treatment is via medicinal treatment or medication, surgery, radiation, dialysis and other medical or scientific based treatments and therapies (Trimble & Rajaraman, 2017). Along with mainstream medicine in allopathy are other forms of care, commonly referred to as complementary and alternative medicine. These may include the use of herbs, massage, yoga, meditation, sleep therapy, dream work and intuition. However, in most cases, especially in the use of herbs, patients are required to consult with their mainstream medicine care providers, that is, doctors, nurses, and other physicians. Complementary and alternative medicine practitioners are known to use the term allopathic medicine as a form of distinction between their practice and that of mainstream medicine.
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