There is a massive movement in the healthcare sector to improve the quality, accessibility and general feel of the medical/healing experience. This issue was going on in the 80's, 90's and 2000's. Why are we struggling so hard and so long with this core issue? Why can we not find a solution?
The answer is quite simple in my mind. There are 3 main issues which we cannot resolve and have made no progress on. (1) While we handle acute care medicine with great skill and efficiency, we are applying the same principles to treating chronic and stress-related disease even though these are totally different animals with completely different solutions. (2) People are all very different yet we wish to provide "cookbook" medicine which assumes that all people are the same and 2 people with the same condition will respond the same (totally false). (3) We have let ourselves be convinced that the pharmaceutical companies are a real and viable solution to our ills (the opposite of this is true; these agencies are for profit companies only seeking to enhance their bottom lines and not really helping the world heal in any real sense).
So how do we proceed?
First and foremost, we have to admit we are way off base. We have been going sideways for years and if we do not right the ship, it is going to sink. The above 3 problems can all be addressed simultaneously. Chronic and stress-related diseases need an entirely different approach which is low on tech and high on compassion and care. Models which provide these vital ingredients will be the saviors.
Treating people as individuals with diseases as opposed to diseases which happen to be attached to individuals would go a very, very long way toward improving quality and doctor-patient relationships. Re-focusing our care on solutions that are not quick fixes and good ways to get patients out of the office quickly will escalate our healing options to much more effective and lasting solutions that actually meet patient needs at markedly decreased costs.
These approaches will open doors and change the way medicine is practiced. Not only will the practice of medicine change but the world will change as we all come to see and understand each other in more real and critically important ways.
The answer is quite simple in my mind. There are 3 main issues which we cannot resolve and have made no progress on. (1) While we handle acute care medicine with great skill and efficiency, we are applying the same principles to treating chronic and stress-related disease even though these are totally different animals with completely different solutions. (2) People are all very different yet we wish to provide "cookbook" medicine which assumes that all people are the same and 2 people with the same condition will respond the same (totally false). (3) We have let ourselves be convinced that the pharmaceutical companies are a real and viable solution to our ills (the opposite of this is true; these agencies are for profit companies only seeking to enhance their bottom lines and not really helping the world heal in any real sense).
So how do we proceed?
First and foremost, we have to admit we are way off base. We have been going sideways for years and if we do not right the ship, it is going to sink. The above 3 problems can all be addressed simultaneously. Chronic and stress-related diseases need an entirely different approach which is low on tech and high on compassion and care. Models which provide these vital ingredients will be the saviors.
Treating people as individuals with diseases as opposed to diseases which happen to be attached to individuals would go a very, very long way toward improving quality and doctor-patient relationships. Re-focusing our care on solutions that are not quick fixes and good ways to get patients out of the office quickly will escalate our healing options to much more effective and lasting solutions that actually meet patient needs at markedly decreased costs.
These approaches will open doors and change the way medicine is practiced. Not only will the practice of medicine change but the world will change as we all come to see and understand each other in more real and critically important ways.
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