The World is Flat

I recently attended the strategic planning conference for the Division of Education of APTA. Although I was dismayed that so few educators at the conference knew anything about evidenceinmotion.com, it was a good opportunity to share the concept. We need to get the word out!

We were given several readings to push us to think "visionarily" about the future and education in particular. One of the most fascinating readings was Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat. Friedman chronicles the last 15 years and forces the reader to recognize the connectedness (i.e. flatness) that is our present world. It has challenged me to recognize how much our world has changed in the last 15 years and to think about the forces that have produced and are continuing to produce this change. Technology is the catalyst, empowering single individuals and groups of individuals to be innovative and entrepreneurial through the utter connectedness that has created our flat world.

Friedman talks a lot about today's business practices with regards to seamless, global communication and collaboration - and it makes me wonder what will be the great catalyst that will force health care and education into the 21st century? Could EBP be one of the catalysts - through the empowerment of single individuals to seek out "truth" and best practices - and then to apply them, one patient at a time? Will this individualism be the derailing of the special interests groups such as pharmaceutical companies and physician owned hospitals? One can only hope.

The book is a good read for anyone who wants to be challenged to hope for our future....

Dale Avers, DPT, PhD