Care Customization Eric Dishman Summary

Eric Dishman, a social scientist, gave a TED talk that explained his personal experiences which led to the empowerment of personalized health care. After years of watching how easily our bodies are separated into medical specialties, he learned the valuable lesson and importance of communication between providers. He pointed out the mistakes that were made and better options to prevent future errors in our health care system. It is brought to light how little health care has changed considering the breakthroughs we have made. They are only breakthroughs, if they are utilized to the vast potential they are capable of. His main focus in his TED talk was to persuade everyone watching that we need to take control of our own health care. Though …show more content…
In this area of his talk he explains that we are not all the same. We are not the same as the “average” patient. We are all different individuals and need customized care for our own needs. Making sure that our medical history is thoroughly used as a predictor of our individual futures, not just using averages of other patients as a predictor of our mortality. Doctors like to use numbers it seems, such as percentages for great surgical outcomes or cures. However, if we get too focused on averages, it is likely to give us a higher or lower expectation of our own future. This goes back to Care Networking as well. Making sure we have the right information about our own bodies from all doctors involved so that we can move forward in the direction that best serves us as an individual. Eric spoke of his personal need to be in and around snow. He wanted medicines that would allow him to be out in cold temperatures and enjoy himself, otherwise his quality of life was not being met. As patients, we need to make sure the doctor knows who we are, how we live and how we want to move forward. Not all patients want the same procedures even though they are suffering from the same ailment. If we allow doctors to view us as pieces they need to fix, as in an assembly line, we are not getting the individualized care we need. This is where our medical history is very important as well. Our history, our environment and our lifestyle may …show more content…
With Eric’s situation, he would have undoubtedly been classified as having a pre-existing condition. Being part of your health care team, as he suggests, is vital. In today’s world, we need to be sure we have someone with insurance expertise in our corner to prevent us from using the wrong out of network doctors or medicines that may not be covered under our insurance. Far too often we are faced with unforeseen bills. Care Networking would help prevent choosing the wrong providers and medications. Having several experts, in all areas of medicine on our team; anywhere, networking, and customized, to who we