Education for the Healthcare System that Learns

The healthcare system is changing. It is changing to provide greater access to a wider population. At the same time, it is focusing on the individual and the dream of “personalized medicine” — therapies customized to the genetics, lifestyle, age and gender of each person. Electronic medical records are becoming increasing sophisticated, allowing clinical effectiveness of current practices to be assessed by inter-professional teams cutting across the spectrum of point of care providers. Such changes are ushering in a new era where the practice of medicine and the roles of healthcare professionals are in flux. In parallel to this transformation, dramatic advances in the biomedical sciences are occurring at a dazzling rate. During our lifetimes, gene sequencing methodologies will advance to the point where most people will be able to afford to have their genomes sequenced. Medical diagnostics are becoming increasing sophisticated and at a molecular level that reveals the biochemical details of our bodies ’ inner workings. Diagnostics are being coupled to medical devices that respond in real time and deliver therapies that maintain our state of health. We are learning about the promise of “regenerative medicine ” where our own stem cells can be used to regenerate our aging organs