Aesclepius unbound

The earliest use of "doctor" in written English was in 1303, but the term applied to "doctors of the Church," meaning "learned men in the scriptures. It fundamentally meant that a physician' s role must be primarily to teach and disseminate knowledge.
The ancient Greeks, Romans , Indians, Egyptians, virtually every ancient civilization assigned a divine role to healing. Indeed, temples of the Gods were the first healing houses in Europe, and till the middle ages, healing places were attached to places of worship. So much has changed in the intervening years- Lister's contribution to antisepsis, Florence Nightangle's contribution to hygiene, Roentgen's discovery of Xrays, Morton's demonstration of anaesthesia, Fleming's dicovery of penicillin, the discovery of new surgical techniques, and finally, in the later part of the last century, the breathtaking developments in technology, imaging, surgery including transplants, genetics and myriad other interrelated fields. Medicine today is an amalgamation of art and science.
Concomittantly , today's healthcare field has grown beyond the traditional 'doctor-patient' relationship.It is entirely more complex. It involves medicine, technology, psychology, organizational dynamics, teamwork, economics and myriad other fields which merge into a polyglot. The physician is just a part of this polyglot which includes providers, payors, nurses, paramedical staff, engineers, lawyers, administrative staff, technology providers, pharma providers, medical device providers and others, including the government and civil society!
Where does this leave us? With one fundamental premise- that we must synergize and capitalize upon our strength's to take healthcare truly into the new millenium. Dr.Atul Gawande in his commencement address at Harvard Medical School recently described the enormous complexity of healthcare and concluded that it is perhaps time for physicians to metamorphose from Cowboys (lone rangers) to Pit Crew ( team players). That premise stands true for all of us in the healthcare field. The Great Ormond Street Hospital used the fundementals used by F1 racing crews to bring about change in its postsurgical outcomes. It stands that healthcare must be open as an industry and learn from other fields. If the 20th Century ended with the halo of IT, there is no reason this Century cannot become the Century of the Healthcare industry. The projections say that healthcare has the potential to be one of the leading employment providers .
Coming to the purpose of this blog, it is to share knowledge on healthcare.Anything relevant is welcome- medical developments, technology, the history of medicine, process improvement in healthcare, accreditation, project management, even grandma's good old medical remedies - anything that relates to this vast field. The blog corresponds to the group "Healthcare Excellence" on linkedin and we would be launching on facebook too.
Let us synergize and capitalize on our innate abilities.