Health care: past and future

Systems biology and the new demands

A lack of system-level understanding of cellular dynamics has prevented any substantial increase in the number of new drugs available to the public and any increase in drug efficacy or eradication of any specific disease. In contrast, pharmaceutical companies are currently lacking criteria for selecting the most valuable targets, research and development (R&D) expenses skyrocket, and new drugs rarely hit the market and often fail in clinical trials, while physicians face an increasing wealth of information that needs to be interpreted intelligently and holistically (Hood 2004;  Kriete and Eils, 2006).

Evolution of the Modern Healthcare System

Before 1900, medicine had little to offer the average citizen, since its resources consisted mainly of

the physician, his education, and his “little black bag.” In general, physicians seemed to be in short

supply, but the shortage had rather different causes than the current crisis in the availability of healthcare professionals. Although the costs of obtaining medical training were relatively low, the demand for doctors’ services also was very small, since many of the services provided by the physician also could be obtained from experienced amateurs in the community. The home was typically the site for treatment and recuperation, and relatives and neighbors constituted an able and willing nursing staff. Babies were delivered by midwives, and those illnesses not cured by home remedies were left to run their natural, albeit frequently fatal, course. The contrast with contemporary healthcare practices, in which specialized physicians and nurses located within the hospital provide critical diagnostic and treatment services, is dramatic (Bronzino, 2006).

References cited: 

Joseph D. Bronzino, Biomedical Engineering Fundamentals, The Biomedical Engineering Handbook, Third Edition, Taylor&Francis, 2006. 

Leroy Hood, James R. Heath, Michael E. Phelps, Biaoyang Lin, Systems Biology and New Technologies Enable Predictive and Preventative Medicine, Science Viewpoint, October, Vol. 306, 2004.

Andres Kriete, Roland Eils, Computational Systems Biology, Elsevier Academic Press, 2006.