iPods and American Medicine
The Best of the Best
I love music. All music. Well almost all music - all music minus Captain and Tenille. If you love music you gotta love your iPod. In the palm of your hand you can hold 23 different versions of All Along the Watchtower - from Dylan to Hendrix and beyond. If you don't like a song - get rid of it. If the iPod is too heavy - get a Mini. If that is too heavy - get a Nano. The thing rarely breaks (except your heart if you listen to Billie Holiday...) and even older versions are useful.
iPods are the music technology equivalent of American medicine. First of all we have a gazillion doctors to choose from (more than can fit on a 60GB iPod probably). You can mix and match all your doctors like a play list. If you don't like one, don't go to him. If you like one - go to him all you want. There are more than 23 different versions of Internists from those named Dylan to probably a few named Hendrix (although they probably spell it Hendricks). If the surgery is too large for you- get mini surgery. If that is too large- get microsurgery. I bet the next advance will be nanosurgery. Even your old family doctor is useful. iPods and American medicine- like apple pie.
Why do I bring this up? Because I can. I want to make it clear who the good guys and who the bad guys are in medicine. The bad guys we'll talk about in upcoming posts. The good guys- Doctors, Nurses, Hospital Workers, Medical Office Workers, Allied health Professionals and all the rest on the front line. Every one who opens a heart and every one who cleans the blood off the wall at the end of the case. The person who says hello to you in the maternity ward at the first breath of life and the person who is there in the intensive care unit at your last. The person who draws your blood and the person who donates your blood.
So in a way, you can say I really am "mad about medicine." It is a great thing. There are things that make us mad about medicine but it doesn't change the fact that we are mad about medicine.
I thought about this recently when a friend told me that many people in her family trash medicine. They say this thing or that thing negative about doctors. Essentially they seemed to hate doctors. I was glad I was not invited to Thanksgiving dinner to this home. It is better to be the carver vs. the carvee.
After hearing this, though, it got me thinking. (People who know me consider thinking to be a dangerous state for me to be in. That's why I am a surgeon.)
What I thought was that it was funny that everyone hates doctors but everyone loves their own doctor. Think about it. When someone says "I hate doctors" the first thing you should ask is "Do you like your own doctor?" Invariably they say- "Of course, my doctor is the best. I love MY doctor." Mathematically how can everyone hate doctors and everyone love their own doctor? It is impossible. Unless of course everyone hates doctors and everyone goes to the same one doctor that is universally loved. Don't think so.
I think it is like the iPod. You were wondering when I was going to go back to that. Our own health experience with doctors is like carrying our own iDoctor around with us. We put the doctors we like in our own iDoctor and walk around with it. If all of music was the music we chose NOT to put in our iPod I guess we would say we hate all music. Except, of course, our own music. But then again that would be as silly as saying we hate all doctors. Except our own doctor. Who would say such a silly thing? Probably everyone.
As an aside I do think we hate all lawyers including our own lawyer. That discussion, though, is for another day.
iRa
Related Topics: Work in Partnership with your Doctor, Choosing a Doctor
I love music. All music. Well almost all music - all music minus Captain and Tenille. If you love music you gotta love your iPod. In the palm of your hand you can hold 23 different versions of All Along the Watchtower - from Dylan to Hendrix and beyond. If you don't like a song - get rid of it. If the iPod is too heavy - get a Mini. If that is too heavy - get a Nano. The thing rarely breaks (except your heart if you listen to Billie Holiday...) and even older versions are useful.
iPods are the music technology equivalent of American medicine. First of all we have a gazillion doctors to choose from (more than can fit on a 60GB iPod probably). You can mix and match all your doctors like a play list. If you don't like one, don't go to him. If you like one - go to him all you want. There are more than 23 different versions of Internists from those named Dylan to probably a few named Hendrix (although they probably spell it Hendricks). If the surgery is too large for you- get mini surgery. If that is too large- get microsurgery. I bet the next advance will be nanosurgery. Even your old family doctor is useful. iPods and American medicine- like apple pie.
Why do I bring this up? Because I can. I want to make it clear who the good guys and who the bad guys are in medicine. The bad guys we'll talk about in upcoming posts. The good guys- Doctors, Nurses, Hospital Workers, Medical Office Workers, Allied health Professionals and all the rest on the front line. Every one who opens a heart and every one who cleans the blood off the wall at the end of the case. The person who says hello to you in the maternity ward at the first breath of life and the person who is there in the intensive care unit at your last. The person who draws your blood and the person who donates your blood.
So in a way, you can say I really am "mad about medicine." It is a great thing. There are things that make us mad about medicine but it doesn't change the fact that we are mad about medicine.
I thought about this recently when a friend told me that many people in her family trash medicine. They say this thing or that thing negative about doctors. Essentially they seemed to hate doctors. I was glad I was not invited to Thanksgiving dinner to this home. It is better to be the carver vs. the carvee.
After hearing this, though, it got me thinking. (People who know me consider thinking to be a dangerous state for me to be in. That's why I am a surgeon.)
What I thought was that it was funny that everyone hates doctors but everyone loves their own doctor. Think about it. When someone says "I hate doctors" the first thing you should ask is "Do you like your own doctor?" Invariably they say- "Of course, my doctor is the best. I love MY doctor." Mathematically how can everyone hate doctors and everyone love their own doctor? It is impossible. Unless of course everyone hates doctors and everyone goes to the same one doctor that is universally loved. Don't think so.
I think it is like the iPod. You were wondering when I was going to go back to that. Our own health experience with doctors is like carrying our own iDoctor around with us. We put the doctors we like in our own iDoctor and walk around with it. If all of music was the music we chose NOT to put in our iPod I guess we would say we hate all music. Except, of course, our own music. But then again that would be as silly as saying we hate all doctors. Except our own doctor. Who would say such a silly thing? Probably everyone.
As an aside I do think we hate all lawyers including our own lawyer. That discussion, though, is for another day.
iRa
Related Topics: Work in Partnership with your Doctor, Choosing a Doctor
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