How our Vantage Points have Changed the Future of Healthcare

EDITOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to our guest blogger, Dr. Jeff McWilliams. Dr. McWilliams is an Emergency Physician, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Director of Customer Service at Leading Edge Medical Associates. He is also a thought leader in the realms of healthcare and servitude. As a contributing blog writer on KevinMD.com, his thoughts on effecting change in the world one individual at a time can be read here. Enjoy!

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As humans, we have always defined and explained the events in our lives through our experiences and points of reference. We once thought the earth was flat because from our vantage points, we could only see the horizon. Mold was simply mold until perception changed to include the petri dish and the power of penicillin. Communication was limited to written or in-person correspondence until humans understood how to harness the electrical current into other modes of contact.

Modern healthcare forces us to redefine our vantage points at lightning speed. We continuously reshape our goals through both technological and scientific advances. Seemingly prehistoric standards of care are rapidly evolving. Therapies of the past have evolved from aspirin within 24 hours to miraculous Door to Balloon (D2B) or Door to Needle (D2N) practices. Accepted norms of today would seem unfathomable to our counterparts in the past.

Through modern technology, we have been able to alter our points of reference in the acute treatment of life threatening events. Care that once was coordinated in the hospital is now being harmoniously synchronized in the back of an ambulance or on the front steps of an emergency treatment facility. When time is of critical essence, technology now has the ability to seamlessly connect the patient and the physician. The end result? Quicker notification, which translates to quicker care; ultimately saving and improving the quality of life.

Why was the system reviewed and altered? What changed?

Only our points of reference.