Medicine Merit Badge (Boy Scouts)

• 1: Discuss with your counselor the influence that EIGHT of the following people or events had on the history of health care:
  1. Hippocrates
  2. William Harvey
  3. Antoine van Leeuwenhoek
  4. Edward Jenner
  5. Florence Nightingale
  6. Louis Pasteur
  7. Gregor Mendel
  8. Joseph Lister
  9. Robert Koch
  10. Daniel Hale Williams
  11. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen
  12. Marie and Pierre Curie
  13. Walter Reed
  14. Karl Landsteiner
  15. Alexander Fleming
  16. Charles Richard Drew
  17. Helen Taussig
  18. James Watson and Francis Crick
  19. Jonas Salk
• 2: Explain the Hippocratic Oath to your counselor, and compare to the original version to a more modern one. Discuss to whom those subscribing to the original version of the oath owe the greatest allegiance.
• 3: Discuss the health-care provider-patient relationship with your counselor, and the importance of such a relationship in the delivery of quality care to the patient. Describe the role of confidentiality in this relationship.
• 4: Do the following:
  1. Describe the roles the following people play in the delivery of health care in your state.
     1. Allopathic physician (M.D.) and Osteopathic physician (D.O.)
     2. Chiropractor (D.C.)
     3. Emergency medical technician
     4. Licensed practical/vocational nurse
     5. Medical assistant
     6. Medical laboratory technologist
     7. Nurse-midwife
     8. Nurse practitioner
     9. Occupational therapist
     10. Optometrist
     11. Pharmacist
     12. Physical therapist
     13. Physician’s assistant
     14. Podiatrist
     15. Psychologist
     16. Radiologic technologist
     17. Registered nurse
     18. Respiratory therapist
  2. Describe the educational and licensing requirements to practice health care in your state for FIVE of the professions in requirement 4a. (Not all professions may exist in your state.)
• 5: Do the following:
  1. Tell what is meant by the term "primary care" with regard to a medical specialty.
  2. Briefly describe the types of work done by physicians in the following specialties:
     1. Internal medicine*
     2. Family practice*
     3. Obstetrics/gynecology*
     4. Pediatrics*
     5. Psychiatry
     6. Surgery
  3. Describe the additional educational requirements for these specialties.

  * "Primary care" specialties

• 6: Do the following:
  1. Briefly describe the types of work performed by physicians in FIVE of the following specialties or subspecialties:
     1. Allergy/immunology
     2. Anesthesiology
     3. Cardiology
     4. Colorectal surgery
     5. Critical care medicine (intensive care medicine)
     6. Dermatology
     7. Emergency Medicine
     8. Endocrinology
     9. Gastroenterology
     10. Geriatric medicine
     11. Hematology/oncology
     12. Hospitalist
     13. Infectious disease
     14. Nephrology
     15. Neuro-surgery
     16. Neurology
     17. Nuclear medicine
     18. Ophthalmology
     19. Orthopedic surgery
     20. Otolaryngology/head and neck surgery
     21. Pathology
     22. Physical medicine and rehabilitation
     23. Plastic, reconstructive, and maxillofacial surgery
     24. Preventive medicine
     25. Pulmonology
     26. Radiology
     27. Rheumatology
     28. Thoracic/cardiothoracic surgery
     29. Urology
     30. Vascular surgery
  2. Describe the additional educational requirements for the five specialties or subspecialties you chose in 6a.
• 7: Do the following:
  1. Visit a physician's office,** preferably one who delivers "primary care." (This may be that of your counselor.) Discuss the components of a medical history and physical examination (an official BSA health form may be used to guide this discussion), and become familiar with the instruments used.
  2. Describe the characteristics of a good diagnostic test to screen for disease (e.g. routine blood pressure measurement). Explain briefly why diagnostic tests are not perfect.
  3. Show how to take a blood pressure reading and a pulse reading.

  ** If this cannot be arranged, demonstrate to your counselor that you understand the components of a medical history and physical, and discuss the instruments involved.

• 8: Do the following:
  1. Discuss the roles medical societies, the insurance industry, and the government play in influencing the practice of medicine in the United States.
  2. Briefly tell how your state monitors the quality of health care within its borders, and how it provides care to those who do not have health insurance.
• 9: Compare and discuss with your counselor at least two types of health care delivery systems used throughout the world.
• 10: Serve as a volunteer at a health-related event or facility in your community (e.g. blood drive, "health fair", blood pressure screening, etc.) approved by your counselor.