Practice Is Changing

Yes, practice is changing and it has been for quite some time. But one has to wonder about the orientation and direction of that change. Small gains come at great cost and do nothing to prevent or reduce the disease. That does not mean the treatment is unnecessary but it does question the orientation and direction of health care with its emphasis upon the medical industrial complex.    

Yes, practice is changing. The patient was always the key to achieving optimum health. Perhaps medical care was too self-centered to recognize that aspect of their task but maybe we were training the wrong kind of practitioner. It takes a teacher and a motivator to mobilize the patient and keep them going. Family Medicine tried to do this but fell short of their goal with some exceptions. The potential for community and population health far exceeds that of traditional medical care. Schools of public health should lead the charge to design and implement models of community wide health care. Collection and analysis of health data will become more sophisticated but using the information to educate and motivate the public is the frontier of practice. For that task we will need fewer physicians, a better concept of HEALTH insurance and less domination of the system by hospitals. Time to redesign the county health department and introduce marketing of health rather than CAT scanners and MRIs. The highest level of technology in health is contained within the human body and we still know so little about it. Saturated fat, anyone? Or nutritional supplements? Walk everywhere you go and cover at least four miles each and every day! Now, that is something you can believe in.