The Health Care Side Hustle
In the wacky world of health care, side effects are the hidden gems tucked away in the fine print, like the punchline to a joke no one bothered to tell. "Don't take these magic pills if you're ____________," they warn at the end of commercials, as if this conga line of issues is just the universe's way of keeping things interesting. But what if these side effects are more than just the awkward third wheel crashing the party?
Our health care routine is all about the A-B grind, where A does its thing and we judge it based on how B reacts. Take chemotherapy, for example – it plays Whac-A-Mole with cancer cells and gets a gold star for effectiveness. But wait, there's more! Chemotherapy also throws a wild party that leaves our immunity-supporting cells hungover, making our bodies more vulnerable than a stressed-out worker bee perusing cat videos at 3 AM.
Every action sets off a chain reaction, not just like Newton's laws, but more like a ripple in a kiddie pool, causing chaos that even the most organized porcelain doll collection couldn't rival.
This ripple effect isn't confined to health care; it's the mischievous troublemaker wreaking havoc in all domains. Agricultural solutions try to outsmart pests, only to discover they've unleashed a miniature apocalypse on the entire ecosystem. The same drama unfolds in economics, the environment, or any other system – effects and side effects are like the entangled plotlines of a soap opera, impossible to separate.
Our obsession with causality is a bit like playing with a Rubik's Cube with 2 colors (endlessly boring). In health care, we shrug off these supposedly minor side effects, perpetuating a one-eyed approach to problem-solving. If the first-order effect gives us a short-term win, we blissfully ignore the impending chaos, contributing to a system that's more restless than a caffeinated squirrel.
When we cherry-pick what we want to focus on, we create blind spots big enough to hide an elephant in an overcrowded waiting room. Nature despises vacuums, and the consequences of our actions are like that embarrassing time a restaurant server said, “enjoy your meal” and you said, “you too” – they can't be contained forever. Just check the "state of the world" tab for an eyeful of evidence.
Surprisingly, health care seems to be waking up to the consequences of its single-minded approach. Take chronic diseases, for instance. By obsessing over treating them, we inadvertently create a breeding ground for these pesky diseases to throw a never-ending party. Extracting cancer, diabetes, or dementia from their surroundings is like playing Jenga with our well-being, leaving nutrition, stress, movement, rest, lifestyle choices, and inflammatory reduction practices as sad spectators that the pieces topple over.
A chunk of chronic diseases is preventable, yet our focus leans heavily toward treatment rather than prevention. It's like choosing between a slice of cake and a treadmill – one's delicious now, the other pays off in the long run. Unfortunately, our system is stuck in single-order thinking, unable to see the forest for the trees because it's too busy deliberating whether the trees prefer sunshine or rain.
Our current system is like a lost tourist in this truth maze. While we scramble for solutions within the existing framework, the real answer is lounging on a beach chair, sipping a metaphorical margarita called "broader sensemaking." Forget trendy acronyms like AI or VBHC; the salvation of health care lies in the chaotic dance of various processes, all grounded in the realization that how we hold our frames shapes our understanding of this crazy tapestry we call health.
There are no side effects – just effects, throwing a wild party with their intricate causes, dancing in a complex, rippling spectacle. I'm just here, patiently waiting for the day health care decides to kick off its shoes, hit the dance floor, and show us some moves that would feel more like an intricate ballet than an awkward two-step.