The Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine

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The University of the Future:
Based upon Holism and Humanitarian Constructs

As a life-long learner, the university system has always been an important part of my life. While I learned a great deal participating in the current university system at a variety of levels, I have often contemplated what the University of the Future might be like. In my estimation, this idyllic ‘system of systems’ would be based upon both holism and humanitarian constructs within the framework of significant social relevance and ‘optimal survival.’

The term ‘optimal survival’ is used here to imply that courses and curricular programs would be designed such that graduates could readily apply the principles learned in ways that would help improve the lives of themselves, their families, their places of employment, and society in general. The model that I have proposed would be especially relevant for universities with professional schools. The systems based approaches proposed were designed to build a strong education foundations that would prepare graduates to enter the especially innovative and broad-based professional programs proposed.

Along with many other people who live in Southwestern Connecticut, 9/11 was a wake up call to me regarding how finite and precious life is. This event was important in helping me to focus this idea while I’m still here! At the suggestion of friends and colleagues, I decided to turn these ideas into a ‘virtual university’ by creating a website, which I decided to call TCAM or Total Complementary and Alternative medicine.

While the idea spans an entire university or perhaps a consortium of universities, the TCAM model has a focal point in healthcare and leadership. However, the scope of the ‘TCAM model’ is much broader and far reaching in scope and intention. The overriding theme would be a truly integrative model based upon interdisciplinary cooperation, collaboration, and social relevance. In my view, this futuristic system would purposefully facilitate responsible analysis in combination with broad-based synthesis. This systems construct could be exemplified in a variety of ways, including socially relevant projects that span large sectors of the university, or groups thereof.

For example, a favorite projected project for the TCAM based university would be the development of the ‘ideal’ healthcare systems. As collaborative effort, humanistically oriented constructs from Architecture, Forestry (landscaping), Art, Music and the Humanities could supply a structural framework for the process of holistically oriented healthcare to emerge, develop and grow in systemic and organized ways. As mentioned in a previous HIM journal article (Nov 04), the proposed physician of the future would be allowed to thrive in this ideal environment.

As ‘co-creators’ of these constantly evolving and continuously improving systems, nurses, physician associates, psychologists, and a variety of other holistically oriented health professionals would be encouraged to reach their full potential as not only healers, but as teachers. The subjects taught would of course place a heavy emphasis on nutrition, fitness and stress leadership.

As preparation for this role, significant curricular innovations would not only be encouraged, but designed in efficient and effective ways inclusive of basic, clinical, and post graduate levels. For instance, nutritional and stress related constructs are easily meshed into courses like biochemistry, physiology, and neuroscience. Anatomy and pathology might be great places to better understand and include constructs from traditional and popular healthcare. Like it or not, constructs like the ‘acupuncture meridian’ and the chiropractic 'subluxation' are common knowledge among patients and are here to stay. I think that the healthcare professional of the future would gain much by understanding the pros and cons of such approaches. Otherwise, their future patients may learn about them first!

I think that a clear and broad understanding of multicultural diversity, organizational dynamics, quality systems, and business leadership will be particularly important as mandatory aspects of clinical and post- graduate curricular innovation. Non-pharmacologic approaches to pain management will not only save countless lives potentially lost to ‘iatragenic’ illness, but I believe that even the drug companies will invest in such approaches. Some of them are already interested in botanicals, nutrasuticals and even such unlikely innovations as ‘music therapy’ and Chinese medicine. The TCAM model provides for interdisciplinary and interdepartmental collaboration and cooperation within all of these arenas! Many broad-based programs and projects are envisioned as joint ventures between schools of Management, Medicine, Music, Art, and Divinity.

The introduction of humanistic and holistic constructs into existing interdisciplinary programs, such as neuroscience, will bring dramatic innovations into our understanding and management of stress, strain and associated pathophysiology. By expanding such proposed innovations into collaborations with business management and leadership, the potential for the prevention and alleviation of human suffering is astronomical. Such enormously relevant Public Health innovations would easily save 100’s of billions of dollars in stress related illness within the US alone. In this regard, TCAM based educational models, within neuroscience and business areas alone would prevent untold waste in terms of absenteeism, insurance claims, and violence in the workplace. These are all areas of understanding that the Physician, PA, and nurse of the future would benefit greatly from and, in my opinion, should be a mandatory part of curricular designs. What more important health concepts are there than understanding and managing stress within the workplace and school systems? Of course, nutrition (including obesity control) and fitness are also extremely important for both business leadership and healthcare.

The TCAM model could readily be applied to such potentially important ‘curricular clusters’ as certificate programs in ‘Holistic leadership’, ‘Music, art and wellness,’ and ‘Spirituality and health.’ From another angle, interdisciplinary clusters in Architecture, Engineering, Biophysics, and Forestry can bring about living and healing spaces that are very efficient and highly effective in facilitation optimal health. Such considerations as the color and intensity of light, the ionization and oxygen levels of air, and optimal uses of color, art and sound, are no longer esoteric concepts, but are rapidly emerging towards the forefront of human understanding and wisdom.

Of course, Anthropology, Philosophy, Literature, and other aspects of the humanities are no longer considered by many as ‘necessary evils’ of liberal arts education. I think that these are areas of considerable social relevance and are at least as important as the hard sciences are in pre-professional and professional education.

At first glance, the ‘system of systems’ model I have proposed may seem daunting and especially impossible for those whose efforts are naturally focused upon the minutest of details. Within the proposed TCAM model, there are a variety of places where the details of the proposed curricular innovation would need to be developed and implemented. There would also be a need for the application of broad-based systems approaches that would naturally fall into the arenas of educational leadership.

I think that a steering committee comprised of ‘leadership leaders’ applying TCAM principles would naturally include ‘core team’ leaders from schools of healthcare, management, education, art, architecture, and divinity. The structure, function, and scope of this proposed committee, would be dependant upon the university (or system of universities) implementing the innovation.

I have included an ongoing ‘virtual draft’ of the TCAM innovation. Of course, the name is arbitrary and the model itself is based upon its own principles, including continuous expansion and improvement.

TCAM site: http://home.netcom.com/~mb1234/tcam1.0_001.htm

Published: January 8, 2005