Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

What do you picture when you think of health care?

Amelia L. Bueche, DO
Physician
September 11, 2020
Share
Tweet
Share

What do you picture when you think of health care? How different is that from your vision of health? Is it possible to connect these two mental images? Can they be merged directly or at by way of a bridge?

When I envision health, I see images of vitality, vibrant smiles, glowing skin, and strong bodies. When I sense health, I feel peaceful spirits, connected hearts, kind actions.  When I witness health, I am encouraged, supported, inspired.

When I picture health care, I see physicians and nurses in hospitals and clinics, serving from a place of passion. When I sense health care, I feel the years of education and training, overnights and hours dedicated to learning. When I witness health care, I am engaged, saved, informed.

I recognize that these images are viewed through lenses made rosy by decades of study dedicated to the health and the personal connection to many serving at the heart of the profession along with an awareness of the potential for the greatest good in both.  Ever a utopian optimist, as a participant in health care in both delivery and receipt of services, I also appreciate that there are challenges and disappointments, an undercurrent of frustration that threatens to break the dam of a tenuous system, drowning us all in a sea of mistrust, ignorance, overwhelm, cost and waste.

With these filters, the sketch of health care illustrates a backdrop of faceless systems that abuse their staff, dismiss their patients, prioritize bottom lines in profits over people with a disconnect between purpose and production. The sensation becomes oppressive, steeped in wariness of cost, motive, and lack of comprehension. We witness ignorance, avoidance, and questionable motives.

Review of health rankings state by state often reveals those near the bottom are often so despite being home to multiple world-class hospital systems. It is a fascinating illustration of the broader definitions of health and a healthy community – and the lack of a direct correlation with either the rosy or the jade(d) lenses of health care.

Is the presence of a quality health care system a component of health? Absolutely. Can access to said health care influence health? Certainly. Are these the whole story or even the most significant influencers of health? No. Health is nurtured and endangered in a vast array of situations and settings. Health care professionals, institutions, and systems have roles to play, they are pieces of the puzzle, but the picture is incomplete if we omit environmental, lifestyle, and biological aspects of health.

What colors do we need to paint the most vibrant portrait of our health? How can we make space on our palette to include these other key shades?  There is room for blending and complement of colors, many made more beautiful by contrasts and adjacencies. Mixing together all tints of expectation and accountability into the single shade of health care system, however, obscures its potential beauty and makes for a drab and ugly shade with limited use in the painting of vitality.

May we look to the canvas with a broader perspective, using the valued shade of health care when necessary and incorporating a dab from each color to create a landscape of health beautiful through any lens.

Amelia L. Bueche is an osteopathic physician and founder, This Osteopathic Life.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

The failure of the U.S. government’s physicians to do good, avoid harm, and tell the truth

September 11, 2020 Kevin 1
…
Next

Physicians work in a culture of fear-driven productivity

September 11, 2020 Kevin 1
…

Tagged as: Hospital-Based Medicine, Primary Care

Post navigation

< Previous Post
The failure of the U.S. government’s physicians to do good, avoid harm, and tell the truth
Next Post >
Physicians work in a culture of fear-driven productivity

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Amelia L. Bueche, DO

  • From skin to soul: What pain reveals about our health

    Amelia L. Bueche, DO
  • This perspective will change how physicians address pain and recovery

    Amelia L. Bueche, DO
  • Expanding the osteopathic concept for the health of all things

    Amelia L. Bueche, DO

Related Posts

  • How social media can help or hurt your health care career

    Health eCareers
  • Why health care replaced physician care

    Michael Weiss, MD
  • Turn physicians into powerful health care influencers

    Kevin Pho, MD
  • Health care needs more physician CEOs

    Alexi Nazem, MD
  • A consistent and clear picture of significant barriers to mental health care

    Peggy A. Rothbaum, PhD
  • Health care is not a service commodity

    Peter Spence, MD, MBA

More in Physician

  • Guilty until proven innocent? My experience with a state medical board.

    Jeffrey Hatef, Jr., MD
  • How to balance clinical duties with building a startup

    Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA
  • When life makes you depend on Depends

    Francisco M. Torres, MD
  • Implementing value-based telehealth pain management and substance misuse therapy service

    Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD
  • How an insider advocate can save a loved one

    Chrissie Ott, MD
  • A powerful story of addiction, strength, and redemption

    Ryan McCarthy, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • How hospitals can prepare for CMS’s new patient safety rule

      Kim Adelman, PhD | Conditions
    • How a doctor defied a hurricane to save a life

      Dharam Persaud-Sharma, MD, PhD | Physician
    • Why primary care needs better dermatology training

      Alex Siauw | Conditions
    • Guilty until proven innocent? My experience with a state medical board.

      Jeffrey Hatef, Jr., MD | Physician
    • Why physician strikes are a form of hospice

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • Why medical notes have become billing scripts instead of patient stories

      Sriman Swarup, MD, MBA | Tech
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why transgender health care needs urgent reform and inclusive practices

      Angela Rodriguez, MD | Conditions
    • COVID-19 was real: a doctor’s frontline account

      Randall S. Fong, MD | Conditions
    • Why primary care doctors are drowning in debt despite saving lives

      John Wei, MD | Physician
    • New student loan caps could shut low-income students out of medicine

      Tom Phan, MD | Physician
    • Confessions of a lipidologist in recovery: the infection we’ve ignored for 40 years

      Larry Kaskel, MD | Conditions
    • mRNA post vaccination syndrome: Is it real?

      Harry Oken, MD | Conditions
  • Recent Posts

    • Why leadership training in medicine needs to start with self-awareness

      Amelie Oshikoya, MD, MHA | Education
    • Federal shakeup of vaccine policy and the battle for public trust [PODCAST]

      American College of Physicians & The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why clinicians must lead health care tech innovation

      Kimberly Smith, RN | Tech
    • The truth about sun exposure: What dermatologists want you to know

      Shafat Hassan, MD, PhD, MPH | Conditions
    • Learning medicine in the age of AI: Why future doctors need digital fluency

      Kelly D. França | Education
    • How a South Asian nurse challenged stereotypes in health care

      Viksit Bali, RN | Conditions

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

Leave a Comment

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • How hospitals can prepare for CMS’s new patient safety rule

      Kim Adelman, PhD | Conditions
    • How a doctor defied a hurricane to save a life

      Dharam Persaud-Sharma, MD, PhD | Physician
    • Why primary care needs better dermatology training

      Alex Siauw | Conditions
    • Guilty until proven innocent? My experience with a state medical board.

      Jeffrey Hatef, Jr., MD | Physician
    • Why physician strikes are a form of hospice

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • Why medical notes have become billing scripts instead of patient stories

      Sriman Swarup, MD, MBA | Tech
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why transgender health care needs urgent reform and inclusive practices

      Angela Rodriguez, MD | Conditions
    • COVID-19 was real: a doctor’s frontline account

      Randall S. Fong, MD | Conditions
    • Why primary care doctors are drowning in debt despite saving lives

      John Wei, MD | Physician
    • New student loan caps could shut low-income students out of medicine

      Tom Phan, MD | Physician
    • Confessions of a lipidologist in recovery: the infection we’ve ignored for 40 years

      Larry Kaskel, MD | Conditions
    • mRNA post vaccination syndrome: Is it real?

      Harry Oken, MD | Conditions
  • Recent Posts

    • Why leadership training in medicine needs to start with self-awareness

      Amelie Oshikoya, MD, MHA | Education
    • Federal shakeup of vaccine policy and the battle for public trust [PODCAST]

      American College of Physicians & The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why clinicians must lead health care tech innovation

      Kimberly Smith, RN | Tech
    • The truth about sun exposure: What dermatologists want you to know

      Shafat Hassan, MD, PhD, MPH | Conditions
    • Learning medicine in the age of AI: Why future doctors need digital fluency

      Kelly D. França | Education
    • How a South Asian nurse challenged stereotypes in health care

      Viksit Bali, RN | Conditions

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Leave a Comment

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...