The Old Coot wants his
Doctorate Degree!
By Merlin Lessler
This is how I think the
medical system should work: - A three -legged stool. One leg is the delivery
system – doctors, nurses, PA’s, NPA’s, X-ray technicians, pharmacists and the
like, trying to help us through a condition or to prevent one. The second leg
is the research system – universities, pharmaceutical labs, specialized hospital
centers, scientists and out of the box thinkers, coming up with how the body
actually functions down to the microscopic level and developing drugs,
mechanisms, diets and surgical interventions to help manage a person through a
condition or to avoid one.
The third leg, the missing
one, is us, the patients. We have valuable input that never makes its way into
the system. If the delivery system (doctors) asked their patients what they
have done or are doing, to cope with a chronic aliment, they just might uncover
a valid coping mechanism that could be passed on. For example, if they asked, “How
are you managing the arthritis pain and swelling in your fingers? Have you
found a way to reduce or eliminate it?” They might stumble onto a new
technique. - “I cup my hands under a hot water faucet and work my fingers
around for a full minute or two. The pain level goes down and flexibility
improves.” That sort of intelligence might get into the system.
Patient input could be
uploaded into a computer system, gathering “home remedies” from millions of
patients for a variety of conditions. Research teams and statisticians could
then compile, analyze, evaluate the input and then pass it back to the delivery
system. And, also produce PSA’s (public service announcement) for the media
dissemination. Us old coots have a wealth of untapped, out of the box, coping
strategies which we share with each other. But, we’re the only interested parties,
because we know the value of hard earned coping wisdom. A huge wealth of
practical medical information is contained within the entire patient base, yet
it never enters the delivery system. This missing leg is a big loss to society!
Comments? Send to
mlessler7@gmail.com
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