What Neurosurgeons Should Do To Succeed Tomorrow
There will be major scientific advances and socioeconomic changes in the 21st century that will influence the development of medicine and neurosurgery. These changes will affect those in academic medical centers and the private practitioners of medicine and neurosurgery. Neurosurgeons' philosophy and practice methods must adapt to these trends. Because of the continuing growth in scientific knowledge and the rapid spread of communications of all types, physicians will best work in groups and teams. These group forces will require the physicians to surrender some independence to gain the power of the integrated knowledge and political and social force of a group. Graduate and postgraduate education programs will also change to adapt to these new realities. Those who understand these new shifts will be the most successful in establishing and conducting practices in academic centers and private practice.
Physicians worldwide have been selected from among the most capable and intelligent people to enter their profession. Their education takes years, and most not only look forward to the personal satisfaction of caring for patients but also to financial security. The globalization of economics, however, has placed industry worldwide in competition to produce the lowest-cost products. Driven by expanding populations, health care expenses have risen beyond the ability of industry and government to afford them. In the US we are conditioned to desire the latest medical treatments in the hope of prolonging life, which are regarded as valuable in this and other industrialized cultures. New restrictions on government-sponsored health care expenditures or reduced payments by third parties hired by industry, have limited the reimbursement for physicians, threatening their long-planned careers in terms of financial security and satisfaction. Physicians are reluctant to revise long-set career goals and behavior, and they are frustrated by the socioeconomic changes influencing medicine. Some retire early; others become frustrated in practice, and seek security as salaried employees of large health care systems or insurance plans; but few adapt and change with the new environment.
The purpose of this paper is to outline for neurosurgeons and other physicians the influences leading to changes in the practice of medicine in this century and to propose solutions to allow future success in this new environment.
There will be major scientific advances and socioeconomic changes in the 21st century that will influence the development of medicine and neurosurgery. These changes will affect those in academic medical centers and the private practitioners of medicine and neurosurgery. Neurosurgeons' philosophy and practice methods must adapt to these trends. Because of the continuing growth in scientific knowledge and the rapid spread of communications of all types, physicians will best work in groups and teams. These group forces will require the physicians to surrender some independence to gain the power of the integrated knowledge and political and social force of a group. Graduate and postgraduate education programs will also change to adapt to these new realities. Those who understand these new shifts will be the most successful in establishing and conducting practices in academic centers and private practice.
Physicians worldwide have been selected from among the most capable and intelligent people to enter their profession. Their education takes years, and most not only look forward to the personal satisfaction of caring for patients but also to financial security. The globalization of economics, however, has placed industry worldwide in competition to produce the lowest-cost products. Driven by expanding populations, health care expenses have risen beyond the ability of industry and government to afford them. In the US we are conditioned to desire the latest medical treatments in the hope of prolonging life, which are regarded as valuable in this and other industrialized cultures. New restrictions on government-sponsored health care expenditures or reduced payments by third parties hired by industry, have limited the reimbursement for physicians, threatening their long-planned careers in terms of financial security and satisfaction. Physicians are reluctant to revise long-set career goals and behavior, and they are frustrated by the socioeconomic changes influencing medicine. Some retire early; others become frustrated in practice, and seek security as salaried employees of large health care systems or insurance plans; but few adapt and change with the new environment.
The purpose of this paper is to outline for neurosurgeons and other physicians the influences leading to changes in the practice of medicine in this century and to propose solutions to allow future success in this new environment.