Thais view on health?
 

Hi there.. I need help in this topic, I'm currently doing research on Thai health.. Well, I as a foreign health care provider(nursing student), how do I approach thai health culture.

Is there any specific rules or ways that have set in Thais mind in order to get well from illness? Erm, are there any alternative medicine practise in Thailand? For example, traditional methods or HEREBs? Who will they refer to? Like in Malaysia, Malays refer to their 'bomoh' for treatment.

How about elderly? They prefer to be treated in hospital?

Are Thais believe in spiritual healing or something call 'miracle'?

Besides that how many race are there? Are their view on health related the same?

By the way, how do I get reference for this topic.. I have tried to google search for it but most of the informations are not related to what I want.
I need referencing for my assignment too.
Any comments or suggestion would be much appreciated!
I am looking forwards to replies from you guys..
Thank you!

last night a girl in my village crashed her motorbike and hurt he knee quite badly. She was placed on a bamboo platform, (bed), with glowing coals underneath and some leaves on the bed. She was then "cooked" for a number of hours. I sat on the bed for a couple of minutes and although it was not uncomfortable, it was quite hot. In the mean time the ladies of the village went to the crash site and prayed to prevent the evil spirits coming back. They then did the same in the village at a junction near the house. I cannot get a decent translation of what went on but the girl appears to be recovering nicely.

Besides that how many race are there? Are their view on health related the same? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_ethnic_groups

By the way, I think this post should not be under "Problems and Suggestions".

Khunchin
Kuala Lumpur

Oh! I'm very sorry about that. Sorry to trouble Mr Richard to move this topic under culture. It's alright with me..thanks anyway!

Hmmm...regarding that poor girl. Good to hear that she had recover.
So, the thing is they prefer traditional healing rather than modern treatment?

i guess the treatment depends on where in the country you are, i have had surgery and many minor treatments in hospitals in bangkok and the health care has been excellent. But where i live is totally different. I ride mountain bikes and i have a tendancy to crash so i have become pretty good at first aid. If i help treat someone with cuts or bruises everyone comes to watch, they think what i do is magic, what they do is normal!

Yea, ain't it the truth.
Here we all just go to the hospital or over to the nurse, not much voo doo stuff because we are close to medical care.
But my wife said she had heard of the cooking deal that you talked about, not often tho, and her mother has a zillion home remedys, but most folks won't let her practise on em anymore, to close to nurse or hospital.555

That's why! Different country has very differrent kind of treatment and view. So, I need to understand and and do more research to know more about their cultures first. And then put it in words on 'how do I approach my job as a health care provider in their culture'. Honestly, I'm quite interested in Thailand so I choose this country as my topic for my assignment.

What about for those people who have difficulty in accessing the hospital?

I ain't sure about ISSAN but here we have a nurse at most villages if they are any size at all here in our Prov..
There is one here and one next door to my wife school that cares for the village of Nong Maena and the school children, she comes and checks the kids, checks for flea's, gives em worm pills, and checks em over for general health.
So if you did come here to work, which I think would be quite a feat to get a job, but it would keep you busy.

I see.. So in short, It wouldn't be a problem I as a foreign nurse to work there? Ha ha...

Is there any rules or norms that certain family follow in order to have a better health or influence their health? Like, environment, food they eat, religion, any herbs usually taken?

i don't know of any nurse in my village but there is a doctor. at least he is called a doctor but i do not think it is his main job. Most people here prefer the 'jungle' medicine but we are very remote and technology is a thing for 'other' people. Also the locals are extremely cost conscious and when they can have people prey for them or get leaves from a bush for free they are not going to pay for medicines.

That is why I mentioned ISSAN, I know some there do different than the Thai over here.
I don't think health is a worry and know of no one that does anything special, they never give pollution or contamination a thought, bacteria that would kill a farang does not hurt them, they are used to it.
But I take it you were kidding about coming here to work, we have thousands in nursing school so I think it is a job for Thai only.
I don't know how you would find anyone that really knows enough to help you on a computer as Thai web sites never work or they will never answer E Mails either so it will have to be someone like us here on the forum.

also to work over here as a nurse you would have to be, either rich or prepared to live quite rough. Some hospitals i have been to have itemised bills and the nurses cut is included, it is normally about 20 baht so i do not imagine them to have fantastic paychecks.

I know all these jungle stories are a lot more exotic, but I'd like to add a middle-class perspective from the city. I teach at a private school, and I've been sick myself several times and of course I see sick kids all the time. in this setting, people are very reliant on modern medicine. if I have a minor headache, everyone is offering a painkiller. if I go to a doctor, I end up with four or five different kind of medicines, one invariably a strong antobiotic, which is not so routinely given all the time back in Europe. if children are sick, even if they have a fever, parents send them to school accompanied with their medicine, often antibiotics. (in Europe, sick children are not allowed to go to school until they recover, so that they do not infect others.) the whole attitude suggests to me that medicines are looked upon as miracle drugs that substitute for a good rest, in fact making the recovery process itself redundant. when I was really sick and could hardly even walk without help, the doctor himself wanted to send me back to work the very next day - and it is not a single case, Thai colleagues complain about the same attitude all the time.
btw, a wide range of medicines is available at pharmacies without prescription (even the pill, or my asthma medicine that only a specialist can prescibe at home), the staff speak good English, and can give you advice. so, lots of people go to the pharmacy and do not visit a doctor, as the doctor costs money, too.
btw, there are small Chinese herb pharmacies, too, I've seen a couple of people at school eating that stuff (all with pungent smells) for stomachache or headache. there are quite a few shops in Chiang Mai's Chinatown, you even feel the strong smell just riding by.
Thai massage is everywhere in Chiang Mai, and many people, especially the middle-aged and the elderly, regularly go for a massage. the therapists often learnt their skills not at schools, but at home from parents and grandparents (but most do have their certificates hanging on the wall too), and they often set up business next to temples, in small halls. (the first ever Thai massage school was founded at Bangkok's Wat Pho temple and it still operates there.) massage is widely used for headaches, back problems, injured ligaments, painful periods, etc. they often use tiger balm to alleviate pains. I guess massage is present everywhere in small villages, too, not the schoo-taught versions, but techniques passed down the generations.
hope this helps.

As some of the other posts have noted, most Thais are fairly firm believers in modern medicine. But like many Westerners, they have some ambivalences about modern medicine and a certain attachment to traditional medicines. I think a lot of Thais also believe that making merit or praying to spirits will help cure illness (in a similar way to the way some Westerners believe in the power of prayer).

Friends who live near the jungle are always picking this or that plant, explaining to me that it is "yaa" (medicine). I was once given a particularly disgusting glass of lao, which had had various sticks and leaves steeping in it, all "yaa". It didn't make me feel better, because I wasn't feeling sick in the first place. However, I'd put my money on a proportion of these herbs having some medicinal efficacy.

One thing you also notice in Thailand (and possibly other Asian countries) is how often people sniff at menthol inhalers. Not just when they have colds but whenever they are feeling sick. There might be a discourse about facilitating breath surrounding that practice.

Hmmm...Well, more or less I have some idea already. Really appreciate everyone's effort .. =) Thanks!

hmmm, those menthol sniffers are indeed great for seasickness or motion sickness. http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/imag...lies/smile.png don't dare to go on a van ride up to Mae Sai without one.

When I lived in Isaan in the late 1960s women would be "roasted" immediately after childbirth in the same way mentioned in an earlier post. I would be surprised if the practice had completely died out in the remoter areas.

Yeaaaahh, come to think of it, I noticed that too. I was in an international gathering attended by representatives from 15 countries in Asia, Africa and the Pacific, and I observed that ALL five members from Thailand carried with them menthol inhalers which they used practically everyday. I thought they were afflicted with bad colds--since where I come from, we only bother to use this gadget when we have a stuffy nose. But I was wrong. Nobody among them had colds at that time. (Then I thought, maybe it's one ingenious way of neutralizing the scents emitted by the other members of the group who only showered during their birthdays. Hehehe, I never got to confirm that, though.)

(Furthermore, I also noted that all Thai representives could not be caught without "jin tan"--those breath-freshener pills--which they would pop in their mouths every so often.)

Any comments on this?

Menthol inhaler.. well, if not wrong I saw my cousin used before. He was quite healthy that time. I guess he just sniff for fun? or maybe got addicted to it.