I had the good fortune in college to know I wasn’t a scientist in the making, so I turned to my favorite subject when I selected a major: history. In my case, medieval and Renaissance history and, in particular, the history of ideas and culture. If I haven’t lost you already, I mention this because of the one constant across the history of all civilizations: the intense fear of change among elites. In other words, organizations or people who ran the show (and had the most to gain from things staying precisely as they were) inevitably were the loudest and most persistent critics of change. In fact, fighting change became a way of life.
Who won? Was it institutional critics of change or change itself and the broad enjoyment of its benefits in the greater population and the less fortunate? Put your money on the latter, as change won every time.
I could fill this column with examples to prove my point, but it’s easier to frame our view bluntly. What would the world and civilization look like if we hadn’t changed 1,000, 100 or 10 years ago? Be it technology, culture, housing, education, medicine, social norms, law, concepts of freedom, agriculture, childbearing, transportation, pets — I’ll keep going if you want.
My point is that change is inevitable, and it always wins, save for totalitarian cultures like North Korea, where the government kills or imprisons people who promote change.
Obstructionists
The subject here has everything to do with the debate swirling around the practice of companion animal medicine in the United States. Virtually every idea or proposal for change is met with fierce, often extreme, resistance. A handful of other professions, such as optometry, behave similarly, but most modern professions adopt a relaxed, analytical and experimental approach. For example, human medicine has had midlevel practitioners such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners for over 60 years.
Critics who invested in and benefited profitably from the prior system howled at the moon 60 years ago and predicted the end of human health care as we know it. Well, they lost, and their predictions proved shallow.
Shining Examples
In veterinary medicine, institutional critics of change always start with the comment that human medicine has nothing to teach veterinary medicine. Is that so? Do the same consumers of the vast array of models and services for personal health care have no sense that the same tools might help their dog or cat? Really? Pet health care can’t adopt or learn anything from human health care? List all the adaptations in use today and stop when you reach 50.
The next opposing argument is the sneakiest and easiest to rebut. Critics of change in veterinary medicine warn, even lecture, that innovations such as telemedicine will harm animals and possibly end veterinary medicine as we know it. Sound familiar? Of course, that hasn’t occurred in human health care, where every state permits telemedicine at the start of a doctor-client relationship. We’re told to dismiss the utility of that example.
Trouble-Free in Canada
Let’s turn to companion animal care. No reports or complaints of harm to an animal have surfaced with the Ontario, Canada, governing board in the province’s seven years of legalized veterinary telemedicine. None!
Do veterinary telemedicine critics acknowledge the reality? Like the governing elites in ancient civilizations, these detractors find it easier to ignore the facts and predict doom and gloom. Pets are not being harmed, and the veterinarians who provide virtual care are not committing malpractice.
The final argument we’ve witnessed through the ages is the bromide that things are “just fine” and that we shouldn’t want to try anything new. That might work for the folks in charge or, in our case, for pet owners who always get an appointment and never face a veterinary emergency.
The chant “In-person care is better” rings hollow for millions of pet owners who cannot secure an appointment, afford one or travel to a clinic, or who require urgent professional advice. Apparently, the solution for them is “Tough luck” or “Maybe you shouldn’t have a puppy or kitty after all.” Those arguments are tired and worn out, yet veterinary media and social media are chock-full of dismissals of reality for millions of American pet owners.
Climb Aboard
Change always wins, and it will here. Cars replaced horses, education for all replaced private tutorials for the elite, and doors opened for all citizens in courts, legislatures and employment.
Not all change is easy, and we should expect some resistance from those who fear its economic impact. But be certain of this: Change happens, and things improve. And don’t doubt for a moment that millennials and Generation Zers view change as their friend.
WHAT’S TRENDING
According to a World Economic Forum article posted at bit.ly/3OMQFL9, these five innovations are revolutionizing global health care.
- Artificial intelligence
- 3D printing
- CRISPR gene editing
- Virtual reality
- Smart bandages