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Asset-Demiology: Public Health's Best Old Idea is the Key to Rebuild Trust

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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