[ef4]

Always remember that no amount of specialist skill by itself gets things done. Healthcare, and everything else, depends on the vast capital structure of our global economy.

If you sent a great doctor back in time to the 15th century, she could do somewhat better than the locals (hand-washing helps a lot). But she would come nowhere near her capabilities when backed by a modern economy.

If you can make one little piece of the economy 50% more efficient, you're freeing up capital for the next highest use. In this sense, it doesn't matter that you're not directly contributing to the next cure. You're helping create a wealthier world, and a wealthier world can afford more cures.

Medicine depends on myriad materials and technologies that are affordable precisely because they're widely used in many other applications. If microprocessors were only used in IV pumps and pacemakers, they would be impractically expensive.

Even something as seemingly superficial as consumer mobile electronics is having major impact on medicine right now.

[jkimmel]

This is one of the most insightful things I've read about the interconnectedness of different professions and the overall economy in recent memory. I'm currently at a crossroads of decision, wondering much as the author about the most meaningful use of my life. This helped me, Thank You.

[stephen]

> If you can make one little piece of the economy 50% more efficient, you're freeing up capital for the next highest use

Nice! Spoken like an economist (I recently read Economics in One Lesson).

[pyre]

  | she could do somewhat better than the locals

I get what you're saying, but I think that 'somewhat better' is an understatement. Obviously she's not going to be performing heart transplants and bi-pass surgeries, but just knowing about things like penicillin, would be huge (not to mention knowledge of things like disease vectors, etc).

[csomar]

I would actually say "she probably knows less than the locals and can do much less than the locals".

I studied Medicine for two years, and was surprised by how much advanced and knowledgeable our ancestors were.

Pharaons did brain surgery to remove cancer tumors a thousands years back successfully. This alone, shows the degree of sophistication and technology they had.

Now I'm not saying before is better, but today we rely a lot on technology (IRM, Radiology, Echography...) that we don't keep much of the details and don't even need to learn them.

[pyre]

Well, then depends on the part of the world and the period. I was assuming 15th century Europe, which is a different story. Also, things like penicillin have a much broader affect than removing a couple of brain tumors. On the other hand, advanced knowledge could be called witchcraft, and she could be burned at the stake.