Rethinking Healthcare
imagine leaving the doctor’s office
with a prescription obtaining just one
single pill
one single pill that you take once and
it will instantly improve
your cognitive abilities your memory and
your thinking skills
this marvel of modern medicine will also
improve your strength
improve your balance reduce inflammation
and reduce
insulin resistance it would also
significantly reduce
your risk of developing chronic
conditions like dementia
heart disease cancer depression anxiety
recurring strokes and type 2 diabetes
not only that it would also increase
your heart’s working capacity
improving blood flow and the delivery of
oxygen and nutrients
to your brain and throughout your body
of course this would also help
to improve your mood as you’d feel
younger more capable
energetic sleeping better waking up
better strong
happy and sensational now imagine this
pill
having access to it would make it almost
illegal
for doctors not to prescribe it to all
of their patients
no matter their age or medical record
now the problem is that there is no such
pill
the prescription that i’m talking about
is exercise in fact there are countless
articles and studies
showing the importance of physical
activity for health and well-being
that are being published every week
month and year on end
now obviously it’s impossible to fit
exercise into a pill
well at least for now but still the
importance of physical activity
does still not have seem to have found
its rightful place
in modern medicine as medical
professionals
don’t incorporate it nearly as much as
they should
into the treatment plans prevention
plans for their patients
now is there a problem here
somehow it seems like this kind of
preventative strategy
is beyond the scope of what’s included
in today’s modern medicine
today modern medicine is amazing
at treating illnesses diseases chronic
conditions
through diagnostics lab work x-rays
pharmaceuticals and treatment plans
in fact developing a chronic condition
is no longer a death sentence
but rather just a lifelong membership to
increasing number of prescriptions
and back and forth trips to the hospital
or the local outpatient clinic
somehow it seems like the better we
become at treating such conditions
the less we or our healthcare system
care about us developing them in the
first place
today more than 40 of the world’s
population
suffers from a chronic condition and
roughly 25
suffers from two or more now how is it
possible
that the prevalence of chronic disease
is on the rise
when our healthcare system and modern
medicine are making such big strides
with new technologies and diagnostic
tools being innovated
by the minute do we really have the
right focus here
or is our traditional way of seeing
understanding and accepting health care
really the most optimal for us for you
for me for the everyday person
i believe not now imagine the fire
department
think about how they work they spend the
majority of the time
energy and effort on preventing fires
and i’m not just talking the use of
smoke alarms i’m talking about
informing advising educating supervising
inspecting and governing
everyone from the single individual to
communities
private companies government authorities
all in order to make sure that if
there’s even a small or
minor risk for a fryer breaking out
they’re able to find it
take care of it before this possibility
of a fire breaking out
turns into reality only a small segment
of their day-to-day work and efforts has
to be spent on actually putting out
fires
because they do such an amazing job at
preventing them
now let’s pause and imagine
if we had the same focus in our health
care system
imagine if doctors and nurses spent the
majority of their time energy and
efforts
on the preventing their patients from
becoming sick
a shift from treatment treatment
treatment to prevention prevention
prevention
and when i’m talking about prevention
i’m i want you to think that
i’m not just talking about primary
prevention where completely healthy
person
is preventing the onset of a chronic
condition and it’s very important so let
it be clear that i’m
also referring to secondary and tertiary
prevention when a person already
diagnosed
with one or more chronic conditions is
preventing the onset
of another one an additional one
maximize your health focus on prevention
no matter the starting point
so would this shift in focus also change
the way that we then perceive modern
medicine
and healthcare let’s find out
if i ask you to think about the word
healthcare
what do you think about was it perhaps a
boring
gray concrete building also perhaps
known as a hospital
a hospital you rarely want to step foot
in or visit and was it related to
sickness pain and trauma
now why isn’t the word health care
associated with something enthusiastic
motivating and positive i mean shouldn’t
it be
why can’t healthcare be associated with
taking care of one’s health
being the best version of yourself
preventing the onset
of a chronic condition while staying
healthy happy
harmonious health
care now all over europe
the americas and southeast asia
the modern medical tradition has long
been governed by paternalism
and despite some of our best efforts
it’s never been able to break away from
it
today we mostly understand the human
body as made up of many different small
parts
and we believe that if we can somehow
take and make
each individual part work well
then somehow the whole person will work
well
and this is accomplished through
diagnostics lab work
x-rays pharmaceutical and treatment
plans and then modern medicine think
that
they’ve done their part leaving it up to
the single individual
the patient to implement all of it and
when they fail to adhere to the
instructions and the recommendations
from their doctors and nurses
they’re being called non-compliant
non-compliant to their medical plan and
non-compliant to the treatment plan
they’re simply just being non-compliant
as if it’s
their fault their fault for not being
able to take this
rigid plan and fit it into their daily
lives
when it was never really designed for
them in the first place
and no treatment plan has ever worked if
the patient isn’t motivated
or compliant with it
well let’s imagine again that we turn
this system completely
upside down or inside out whichever way
you want to think about
and starting off let’s not think of
people as just patients
why well because no one sees themselves
as just a patient
outside of the hospital or anywhere else
they’re a person
a person with their own goals
aspirations social life struggles and
limitations
so let’s move away from just calling
them patients
and start thinking of them as people
and as people they should not just play
a passive part or simply be
assigned a rigid medical treatment plan
but instead they should be the driving
force they should own
their own health journey why
well because they are the ones solely in
control
of which pills they want to take which
diets they want to follow
how much they exercise whether they use
alcohol tobacco or drugs
what their sleep habits are like and how
they handle stress
and frustrations in fact
they are just like all of us are in
strict control of the variables that
drive
90 percent of the determinants of how
well
we live with chronic conditions whether
we get them in the first place
and how well we live with them
so shouldn’t modern medicine focus on
helping people improve those
90 that’s prevention
the reactive high acuity stuff like
operations and traumas
are very important as well but the focus
should not
only be on having the best reactive care
but also on the best proactive and
preventative care
the least risky operation is the one
that never needs
to take place now with an increased
focus on prevention
healthcare professionals need to be able
to offer people the right tools
information and motivation to best
become the driving force
of their health journey customized
for each person here you can’t get away
with trying to meet a person’s specific
medical health needs with the current
rigid health care structure and plans
that you already have in place
a professional professional-centric
model what’s easiest for the doctors
and the nurses but rather need to
reorganize and redesign
the healthcare business model to be
evolved
and designed for the specific needs
of the people who should use modern
medicine
only as a compliment to their health
journey
in this more advanced healthcare role
then the main skill sets
of medical professionals should not only
be that of lab work
x-raying prescribing the right pills
diagnostics or creating treatment plans
it should also include that of a health
coach a health coach that
influences that partners educates
and cheers you on a coach that helps
people make the right decisions
by providing them the right tools
information and motivation to do so
now unfortunately being able to
influence someone or being a people’s
person
isn’t what is going to get someone into
medical school and it doesn’t help any
aspiring doctor to pass that physiology
or biology exam
but somewhere in that decade-long
education that medical professionals go
through
should there be an emphasis on inspiring
influencing
coaching the very same people that they
will spend the rest of their
professional careers helping
a big part of medical school is the feel
of anamnesis how
to collect the right information by
asking the right questions and that’s
great
but where are the courses on motivation
where the courses and how to actually
influence someone
to make better health decisions
so of course this is not something
that’s just going to change overnight
but what is one thing that modern
medicine
can do today to start influencing and
inspiring people
to become more active in their medical
plans
one thing well if we go back
to that amazing small pill with numerous
health benefits
well you know the one that doesn’t exist
well the pill doesn’t exist
but the amazing health benefits they do
and they don’t need to be packaged into
a pill to be prescribed to people
now physical activity is amazing medical
exercise
even more so and when i’m talking about
medical exercise i’m talking about
physical activity that is planned
structured and continuous
for the purpose of conditioning the body
lowering the risk of becoming
chronically ill
enhancing both fiscal and mental
well-being
ultimately increasing quality of life
it’s simply a magic cure an amazing
recipe for a healthier life
now let me ask you this when was the
last time
your doctor told you that for every hour
you exercise
you live between two to five hours
longer
for every hour that you exercise you
live between two to five hours longer
it’s true just following then
the international recommendations solve
at least 150 minutes of moderate
intensity exercise a week
you could live more than 10 hours longer
now imagine doing this
week in week out month after month and
year after year
the only thing you’re going to have to
worry about is asking yourself
what are you going to do with all this
extra time in your life
if we focus on prevention medical
exercise
should be incorporated into every health
and treatment plan
for every person no matter the person’s
starting point
age medical history
modern medicine could start focusing on
this very simple idea
that has the potential to create amazing
long lasting health results
this simple idea
could be the catalyst for this new way
of structuring and thinking
of healthcare the strong focus on
prevention
so even if you’re not being pushed by a
doctor
and even if you’re not being influenced
or coached into living a healthier
lifestyle
remember you are in charge of 90 percent
of your health determinants you are in
charge
of your own health journey so even if it
isn’t prescribed to you
create your own magic pill you take it
you get up you get moving you get active
every day every week and every month
this way you prevent disease
instead of putting out fires and so let
me leave you with this
become the driving force become the
pilot and become the master of your own
health journey
so that the next time that you hear
health care
don’t just think of a boring gray old
building
think about taking care of your own
health
and i promise you your health will take
care of you
thank you for listening
you