For thousands of years, a dichotomy has existed between the Eastern and Western hemisphere of the earth. The perceived differences between each hemisphere have included geographical and cultural divides, alongside the areas of medicine and science. The discovery of the truth of the human body, how disease and illness affect it, did not begin to be conceptualized until the end of the sixteenth century (Carrol, “Alternate Medicine Doesn’t Matter, the Science Does”). On the Western side of the hemisphere, began the quest to discover illnesses of the human body and how it combats disease through the study of each individual structure, function, and part. As technology and science developed, patients started to rely on medications and soon enough treatments became chemicalized: “Chemists and biologists began to make pharmaceutical discoveries which led to vaccines being mass produced eventually leading to the pharmaceutical golden era between 1930 and 1960” (“The Pharmaceutical Golden Era” 4). Alternatively, the Eastern side of the hemisphere began to take a more holistic approach to the discovery of the truth behind the human body. Instead of focusing on each individual structure and function of each part of the human body, traditional Chinese medicine viewed the body’s systems as one integrated and balanced whole. The fundamentals of Chinese medicine are based off Yin and Yang, two opposite forces that interconnect causing harmony that react with one another to produce a vital energy, Qi, which flows through meridians representing a complex interrelationship formed within the body. Qi is blocked or excessive when disease occurs in the body. The five elements, better known as the aspects of Qi, are essential to the practice of Chinese medicine and healing because of their ability to reestablish harmony in the meridians. Herbs and certain types of mind and body practices such as acupuncture and tai chi began to be used to repair and free the blockage of Qi. Referring back to each form of medication, many times each has been placed on two different sides to be challenged and argued which form is “better” or “more effective”. This common misconception that one form can be superior than the other in medication, treatments style, diagnosis, and success has a wider complexity than a person may contemplate. The challenging of each medicine brought about a different topic, how one form can affect another. In fact, traditional Chinese medicine herbs have been directly used in the manufacturing of  prescription medications made by Western pharmaceutical companies in an attempt to advance and improve prescription medication, at the same time many gains in Chinese traditional medicines have been the result of Western hemisphere innovation of science and technology. According to Carrol, “Digitalis comes from foxglove, quinine from cinchona bark, penicillin from bread mold and aspirin from willow tree bark” (Carrol 5). The two different forms of medication have a directly proportional relationship amongst one another, for instance the discovery of a new organic compound in TCM can lead to the use of it in prescription drugs. Although using one form over the other may have a higher success rate at curing and battling certain illnesses, each form can have certain benefits and risks associated with one versus the other. The integration between Western hemisphere and traditional Chinese medication can be more beneficial, to cure and prevent diseases, than the use of a single form of medication. 

Western hemisphere medication is dependent on treatment that involves the use of chemistry and biology to create a substance that combats a specific disease and sickness identified by a specific of symptoms occurring within the patient. The 1940s signified the golden era of prescription medicine and vaccinations created in a lab with tested with multiple trials, becoming mass produced, and over marketed to the vast public. Once the pharmaceutical industry began to boom, they continued to manufacture new drugs and vaccinations in response to new data and research findings. The medication being sold can either be classified as an OTC (over the counter) or prescription drug. Over the counter medications do not require a prescription from a doctor, and can be bought right off the shelves in local stores. On the contrary, prescription drugs are given to patients that have received a prescription from a doctor, and are acquired through a pharmacy strictly for the patient prescribed. Since 1930, every prescription, over the counter, and future drug has been analyzed by the FDA (food and drug association) and put through the administrations step by step drug review process to determine whether the drug is safe, effective, and successful. “The stages of the step by step review start with animal testing, IND application, three test phases, a review meeting, NDA application, and complete application review” (FDA, “The FDA’s Drug Review Process”). Once the review process is complete, the FDA determines whether the drug will be sold for patients with a prescription from a doctor or if the drug ingredients fall under the OTC monograph, and can be sold over the counter. 

Although new drugs are put through the step by step method administered by the FDA to determine whether the drug itself is safe and effective, there are a plethora of risks associated with the consumption of prescription medication. Prescribing faults, unintended symptoms, interactions, overdose, and addiction are all consequential risks that can stem from ingesting an FDA approved prescribed medication. Even though all prescription drugs have different abuse risks levels, the fourth leading cause of death in the United States is labeled as accidents. “Of these accidents from 1999 to 2015, more than 183,000 people have died in the U.S. from overdoses related to prescription opioids. The Food and Drug administration has passed numerous drugs including Methadone, Oxycodone, and Hydrocodone, that have led the United States in opioid addiction following overdose” (CDC, “Prescription Opioid Overdose Data”). If a prescription drug is misused by the patient not for medical reasons, the risk of addiction can dramatically increase and eventually lead to misuse resulting in an overdose. Admittedly, prescription drugs if taken correctly can be a success for the patient but what if a patient correctly takes a prescribed drug as directed and it responds negatively? Prescribing faults and prescription errors are two risks that can accompany Western hemisphere medication that the FDA cannot regulate and prevent. During a walk-in or urgent care visit, a physician can generate errors in any step in the prescribing process which could be due to poor handwriting, fault in dose selection, or unintended omission in the transcription of drugs. Three conspicuous findings regarding medication errors are the preventability, frequency of errors, and inadequate medication history. “Prescribing faults affect up to 11% of prescriptions while 16% of prescribing faults resulted in harm to patients; for example, between January 2005 and June 2006 there were 38 deaths in the UK that resulted direct from prescribing faults. Most of these errors were preventable: for example, drugs administered despite a contraindication, drugs given by an incorrect route, drugs given in an inappropriate dose, or drugs given with inadequate monitoring” (Fitzgerald, “Medication Errors: The Importance of an Accurate Drug History”). Prescribing errors and faults are frequent and can cause significant harm for patients even though most of the complications associated with the errors can be prevented to reduce patient harm entirely. By assuring the patients’ medical history is complete and accurate, physicians and pharmacists can significantly reduce prescribing faults. For example, a patient who has an inaccurate medication history is at harm by blinding the physician of potential negative interactions with the newly prescribed medication. The inadequate medication history of patients tends to be worse with physicians and nurses compared to pharmacists located in emergency departments. “In a recent study, of the histories taken by pharmacists 13% contained a medication error with the potential to cause harm, compared with 30% in the standard care group (histories taken by physicians and nurses)” (Fitzgerald, “Medication Errors: The Importance of an Accurate Drug History”). Although it may be beneficial to utilize pharmacists for the prescribing process because they are less likely to execute error with the potential to cause harm, it is more time consuming and costly to use as a standard process over physicians and nurses. The final risk that is connected to Western hemisphere pharmaceutical drugs is interactions. Drug interactions can be described as an interaction between the drug being used and any other substance that prevents the drug from working properly. Consequences from drug interactions lead to either an increase or decrease in the beneficial or adverse effects of the drugs which happen to be extremely common throughout the United States. “These studies estimate that 6.7% of hospitalized patients have a serious adverse drug reaction with a fatality rate of 0.32%. If these estimates are correct, then there are more than 2,216,000 serious ADRs in hospitalized patients, causing over 106,000 deaths annually. If true, then ADRs are the 4th leading cause of death—ahead of pulmonary disease, diabetes, AIDS, pneumonia, accidents, and automobile deaths” (FDA, “Preventable Adverse Drug Reactions: A Focus on Drug Interactions”). Similarly, to every drug complication involved in Western hemisphere medication, the errors made are all linked and preventable. Adverse drug reactions can stem from an inadequate medical history resulting in prescription errors that neglect known interactions. The medication error and fatality prevalence rates and those from overdose and adverse drug reactions exposes the risks associated with Western hemisphere medication, and displays problems that aren’t always in the patient’s hands. 

While Western hemisphere medication has been proven to have flaws and in some cases be responsible for harming the patient, it has often times cured patients from common illnesses and disease resulting in a massive gain in popularity. The pharmaceutical golden era was a historical time aided by inventions that brought about medical discoveries such as synthetic vitamins, hormones, antibiotics, and vaccines. “Scientific discoveries sparked medical breakthroughs made within the pharmaceutical industry in the mid 20th century causing a reduction in maternal deaths from infections arising during child birth by more than 90%” (Chemical and Engineering News, “The Pharmaceutical Golden Era 1930-60”). The statistics surrounding Western hemisphere pharmaceuticals, scientifically proves its effectiveness. As treatments for specific illnesses started to show successful results, the pharmaceutical industry blew up and steadily began to grow into the billion-dollar industry it is to this day. 

As for Eastern hemisphere medication, the study began to focus on the entirety of the human body and its connection with the universe, instead of the specific structure and function of each part. The basis of traditional Chinese medication began to formed around the philosophy of Taoism and the theories of Yin and Yang, two opposing forces located in the body that complement one another to form a balance. When a patient develops a certain symptom, the forces of Yin and Yang are unbalanced resulting in the blockage of Qi, the bodies main source of vital energy. Traditional Chinese medication is used to combat unbalanced forces with treatment styles that are not based off chemicals such as acupuncture, herbal medicine, and tai chi. Acupuncture is a procedure that is used to target stimulation points with the use of thin and solid needles to release the blockage of Qi, meanwhile evoking the body’s natural healing response through psychological systems. The Chinese materia medica is used as a pharmacological reference by TCM practitioners and is a collection of knowledge regarding substances used for therapeutic properties of healing dating back to 1554. The mixture of Chinese herbs used in combination results in individual formulas that promote better health for the patient. While acupuncture is used to free the blockage of Qi reducing pain, stress, and anxiety, Chinese herbs are administered to target certain illness based of the effectiveness of the formula. To keep a balanced body, tai chi is performed by using gentle dance-like movements to improve mental focus, breathing, and relaxation. While acupuncture, herbs, and tai chi have been documented and used for thousands of years, these methods have clashed with scientific evidence and the ability to cure diseases. Traditional Chinese medication treatments are challenging for researchers to study because of the complexity of treatments and ideas stemming differently from those of the Western hemisphere. “41 of 70 systematic reviews of the scientific evidence (including 19 of 26 reviews on acupuncture for a variety of conditions and 22 of 42 reviews on Chinese herbal medicine) were unable to reach conclusions about whether the technique worked for the condition under investigation because there was not enough good-quality evidence while the remainder of the study resulted in suggested possible benefits but could not reach definite conclusions because of the small quantity or poor quality of the studies” (Burke, “Traditional Chinese Medication: In Depth”). The conclusions resulting from the study of acupuncture and herbal medication are a smaller risk in a broader spectrum associated with this form of medicine. Contaminated herbs, nonsterile needles, interactions are all potential risks that can be experienced during the use of TCM aside from the lack of scientific evidence attribution.  

The lack of scientific evidence of some forms of TCM effectiveness to promote better health and treat diseases, forces many people view traditional Chinese medication as a complementary health approach. Although scientists are skeptical on the effectiveness of TCM, the study of this medicine has dated back 2,500 years and has even made a rise in popularity in the Western hemisphere. “According to the 2007 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), which included a comprehensive survey on the use of complementary health approaches by Americans, an estimated 3.1 million U.S. adults had used acupuncture in the previous year. The number of visits to acupuncturists tripled between 1997 and 2007. According to the 2007 NHIS, about 2.3 million Americans practiced tai chi and 600,000 practiced qi gong in the previous year” (Burke, “Traditional Chinese Medication: In Depth”). The small quantity and poor quality of studies done on traditional Chinese medication may account for the benefits not being sought out by researchers. Even though some forms of traditional Chinese medicine are controversial and labeled as not being evidence based, TCM’s long derived herb formulas have been shown to prevent and manage cancer malignancies. “The Yangzheng Xiaoji (YZXJ) capsule, derived from a TCM formula, has exhibited anticancer actions. In a randomized double-blind lung cancer study, patients who received treatment with conventional chemotherapy combined with YZXJ exhibited significantly increased levels of complete and partial disease remission compared with those who received chemotherapy alone” (Ye and Jia, “Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Prevention and Treatment of Cancer and Cancer Metastasis”). The Yangzheng Xiaojio capsule is composed of 16 TCM herbs with two single herbs, astragalus and panax, that have direct anticancer properties. The blind lung cancer study doesn’t just reveal the benefits of ancient TCM herbs but it displays how TCM herbs can help aid Western hemisphere medication (chemotherapy). Each form of medication used in combination, can significantly diminish the risks interconnected with the use of one form over the other. 

The Western and Eastern hemisphere split between medication and treatment styles differs from one another greatly. Yet, both forms of medication have an aspect of risks and benefits that are directly linked to the use of each medication. The ability to maximize benefits and minimize risks calls for the integration between each medication. By replacing the Western form of opioid medication with the Eastern therapeutic treatment of acupuncture, the use of integrated medicine can significantly reduce the number of patients addicted to opioids. “In 1996, the World Health Organization (WHO) listed 64 medical problems that were considered suitable for acupuncture treatment, including the treatment of drug abuse. There are three major advantages regarding the use of acupuncture to treat drug addiction. First, acupuncture therapy for opiate addiction is inexpensive, simple and has no side effects. Second, acupuncture can be used for the prevention of opiate relapse. Third, acupuncture therapy is safe for pregnant and parturient women” (Lin and Chan, “Acupuncture for the Treatment of Opioid Addiction”). By using acupuncture to replace opioids, patients will not only lose the risk of dependence and addiction but will be able to determine whether traditional Chinese medication is suitable and effective for them. Unfortunately, the issues between integration such as industries clashing, safety of treatments, and even communication between each hemisphere. An enlightened approach to health, science, and economic policies is necessary to help mitigate the potentially negative influences brought about by market driven approaches. 

The integration of each form of medicine is substantial to acquiring a successful medical future. Although TCM and Western pharmaceuticals are two different markets competing for profits, on occasion the main goal of a cured patient can be hindered by the loss of a business client. Medicine is a for profit industry with an ending goal to help relieve the patient of disease and illness, yet the contradiction on whether two different industries can integrate into one to cure and solve ongoing health problems relies on the ability to set aside profits and focus on patient’s well-being no matter what hemisphere they are located in.

 