When you think of evolution you imagine it happening in the natural world. Simpler organisms turning into more complex life forms. As evolution unfolds plants and animals becomes more diversified and specialized. In medicine it's the same.
Recently I visited a hospital where it had a small museum. It displayed old medical equipment. Crash carts used to be wooden and the size of a cabinet. Pacemakers were chunky, huge metal devices that looked like they could barely fit into a patient's chest.
Radiology (a relatively new medical science along with anesthesiology) started out using heavy and fragile glass plates for X-rays. The exposure time was long (think of holding 45 minutes completely still while in pain) and the plates had a nasty habit of breaking.
Enter World War I and the need to find X-ray plates that were both durable and could be developed quickly. This was the beginning of X-ray plates using film. Fast forward to the 21s century and film plates are all but obsolete and Computed Radiography is giving way to Digital Radiography.
Now everything is becoming miniaturized. We have endoscopes and catheters, lessening the the need for invasive surgery. We have microscopes and robotic arms in the operating room. If physicians from a century ago stepped into today's hospitals they'd probably be amazed and overwhelmed.
Just like in evolution, however, medicine is becoming more specialized as it grows increasingly more complex. Whereas physicians used to have to know a little bit about everything in general medicine now it's impossible to know everything about every specialty. The need for more specialized physicians communicating and coordinating the care of patients sometimes lead to confusion and miscommunication.
Are we becoming over specialized to the point medicine is too complex, unwieldy and inefficient? Is is possible that even with the advances in medicine we don't provide the best quality care?
While I'm not one to long of the simpler (and less effective) days of healthcare sometimes I worry we've lost the human, personal touch in medicine. We need to start focusing on being less clinical and more compassionate toward our patients. We shouldn't let the "care" in healthcare go extinct.
- Kim Schure, RRT (R)
Healthcare Copywriter
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