Asset-Demiology: Public Health's Best Old Idea is the Key to Rebuild Trust
Asset- demiology is a neologism that does not come up in Google (yet) 1 . Sound it out—the “ ology ” of peoples ’ assets and strengths. It is the logical comp anion , but neglected anti-thesis of the usual approach to health. Health care work is all about deficits . The work of a doctor, whether human or robot, is to transform a living breathing human into a diagnosis, problem list and treatment plan. Medical s tudents and interns are socialized to walk out of the treatment room and recite to their supervisors all the deficits and problems they uncovered. There is no place in a standard medical record to actually list a patient’s strengths and capabilities. The AI-training sets for robot ic medical algorithms have no way to learn the clinical relevance of patients’ strengths. To a doctor , patient=problem list . Public health has the same pessimistic vibe. A deficit focus has rubbed off on public health . The queen science of public health, epidemio