What is the Lifetime Patient Capacity of a Medic?
What is the maximum number of patients that a Doctor is capable of treating or consulting with over the lifespan of his or her career?
And why does it matter to figure this out?
Under the 20th century industrial-complex model of medicine:
80 hours/week × 50 weeks/year × 40 year career = 160,000 hours.
160,000 hours of service as a Doctor.
If you could see and treat a new patient every 10 minutes, you’d be seeing/treating 6 patients an hour…or 960,000 patients over the course of a 40 year career.
960,000 patients.
Just 40,000 patients shy of a million.
And when you factor in the mortality rates and life expectancy of these patients over your 40 year career…The total number of patients you’re able to impact under the conventional system of Medicine will be much smaller.
Given how small each Doctor’s potential Lifetime Patient Capacity is…and how vast the number of patients is for various conditions…It seems important that we talk about the best way to use and leverage each Medic’s potential for the sake of all humanity.
Maybe one-on-one defense isn’t the best way.
Maybe we need to play a Zone.
Maybe the best defense is a strong offense.
Maybe the Heads of departments and Ministers of Health need to look like Doctors but think like Phil Jackson, Sir Alex Ferguson, José Mourinho and other legendary sports franchise coaches.
The first step to winning the health care battle is to look at our stats and use them to play as if we’re serious about winning.