3 TED talks give you a sneak peek into the future of healthcare

Three speakers discuss the current problems with medicines and the need for more coordination

Vijay Ramnath Jayaraman
Updated: Dec 4, 2014 07:55:46 AM UTC

The current health care system, as we know it, is undergoing a massive transformation. These changes are driven by a number of factors, including technology transformation, data-driven diagnosis, new discoveries in medicine, a healthier population and focus on chronic conditions. In this blog, I want to share 3 TED talks that captured my attention recently, touching on all these drivers.

For those not familiar with TED talks, they consistently produce some of the most innovative thinking across industries, bringing thought leaders to the stage to push boundaries and discuss revolutionary ideas. Over the years, TED has hosted speakers from the health care space who have changed the way we think. I have listed three of the best TED talks over the last few years that would give you an insight into what the future of health care would look like. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.

1) Eric Dishman: Health care should be a team sport

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT3XyORCFDA[/youtube]

In this very insightful talk, Eric Dishman, a healthcare researcher at Intel, provides a perspective of a patient with serious diagnosis. Dishman talks about the problems of current medicine and specifically the need for more coordination.  He argues for the need for more home health care and that we need to save the hospitals for acute care patients. Dishman’s talk is particularly important for nursing and medical students to get an overview of what the future of hospital care would look like.

2) Aubrey de Grey: A roadmap to end aging

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iYpxRXlboQ[/youtube]

Cambridge researcher Aubrey de Grey proposes his path-breaking view that ageing is merely a disease–and a curable one that too. He proposes that the human body and diseases must be viewed as an engineering problem and that by identifying all the components that cause human tissue to age, one can stop ageing and prevent diseases. He provocatively proposes that the first human being who will live for a 1,000 years has already been born. This one is also my personal favourite, so check it out.

3) Atul Gawande: How we heal medicine? 

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3QkaS249Bc[/youtube]

Atul Gawande, author and medical surgeon, is TIME magazine’s 100 most influential thinkers. In this talk, Gawande suggests that by using simple tools and techniques like checklists, a physician can refocus on his most important job: Treating patients. He also argues that doctors are instead interested in expensive treatments, costly prescriptions, and unwanted tests. He suggests that we take a step back and look at new ways to do medicine with fewer cowboys and more pit crews.

The thoughts and opinions shared here are of the author.

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