Systems Thinking in Medicine and New Drug Discovery

Book excerpt: Total Quality Management (TQM) and systems thinking are being used to improve all aspects of human health. This first book in a two-volume set details how the healthcare community is working with patients and their caregivers to improve healthcare and reduce its costs. Systems-based thinking encourages us to work together to look at the effects of new drugs on entire systems and not just single molecular targets. It also leads us to a better understanding of genetics and epigenetics, as well as the deep ecology of the human body. The healthcare community is developing targeted therapies that stimulate our own bodies to cure ourselves and eliminate the need for animal testing. This book will appeal to specialists, who will find recommendations on safer materials for 3D bioprinting and ways to analyze dietary supplements for toxic contaminants, and physicians, pharmacists and non-professionals, who will learn the important different ways that dietary supplements and prescription drugs are developed, sold and marketed.