Sustainability in Medicine

I aspire to have a career in the world of medicine.  Specifically, I want to become a physician assistant.  While second to physicians, physician assistants are extremely qualified and often treat patients themselves, performing surgeries, diagnosing disease, and prescribing medicine.  The qualifications of a physician assistant are projected to grow as the shortage of doctors becomes an increasing issue.  With this career choice in mind, I chose the TED talk by Mark Kendall geared towards medicine, involving the use of nanopatch technology over conventional methods of vaccination. As there was only one TED talk available for medicine, I have reviewed this talk and its relation to sustainability.  Kendall presents the nanopatch, a new design to deliver immunizations.  It contains thousands of microscopic projections that deliver the vaccine by simply being placed on the skin for about a minute.  This new development covers the three aspects of sustainability, socially, economically, and environmentally.  The nanopatch aids socially, due to the high expenses of needle vaccination.  The nanopatch is cheaper and more durable, and can be delivered to underdeveloped areas without requiring refrigeration. It also increases the effectiveness of a vaccine, and avoids needle phobias.  Economically, the nanopatch is a cheaper alternative to vaccines, and requires less vaccine overall.  The expensive “cold chain” also is not necessary with the nanopatch.  Environmentally, the nanopatch involves the use of a reusable applicator rather than the non-reusable needles traditionally used.  It also requires less energy for transport.  Kendall’s TED talk aimed to introduce the nanopatch, however an aspect that truly affected me was his outlook on vaccines.  The use of traditional vaccines has been historically, an currently, successful.  As Kendall stated, the technology is 150 years old.  However, his point was that just because the traditional vaccine is successful does not mean it cannot be further enhanced.  I think this is a very important idea to hold in the world in medicine.  While traditional methods may be effective, they might not be the most effective, and an open mind is necessary for this career.  This I believe can be a facet in itself of sustainability, something that enhances on a social, economic, and environmental scale.  To further these three aspects is to create a better system overall, and ultimately gear towards the future.