As a student who majors in Health Service Management, Biology is an important subject that enables me to acquire the right knowledge while applying appropriate consilience skills to develop effective and efficient outcomes. Consilience (convergence of evidence) is a principle that allows evidence from unrelated and independent sources analyzed with the aim of drawing a strong conclusion. The principles of consilience will enable me to conduct surveillance of major diseases and provide the required management solutions. I will investigate the causes and patterns of disease in the move towards reducing negative health outcomes. Sampling, survey and procedures involving measurements are the main methods I will use to compose the evidence required in drawing a conclusion about the management of the selected health problem. I will use sampling and survey to describe the population at risk and the disease distribution within the population. Carrying out surveys will ascertain the proper implementation of the management strategies. The measurement procedures will confirm the presence of disease within the selected population. These procedures will involve taking biological specimens from humans such as blood and carrying out a diagnostic test. I will also carry out laboratory tests to confirm the human safety and the effectiveness of the proposed control measure.
Health service management aims at promoting health, and reducing risks of disease. As my major and my aspiring career field, I will not only consider the physical aspects of health, but also the biological dimension. The origins of many health problems are usually complex and this will call for my collaboration with diseased populations on the move towards solving health problems. Solving problems will be enabled by proposing better solutions and taking the required steps to reduce the risks of the health problem. Understanding the causes of disease variations and using the information to improve the health of the population will be my main benefits I will offer to the society. This objective can only be achieved through the application of my biological knowledge and application of consilience. Preventing and controlling diseases, guiding and planning the health care policies will help me in proposing better management solutions to the health problems.
Studying the interactions of the people and their environment will provide evidence of the occurrence and distribution of health problems. Examining the contaminations in the physical environments within which the populations exist will also show the health status of the population and will give the clear relationship between the science of the ecology of the disease and extend of health problem in that society. On notification of any health problem within the population, I will have to examine the disease incidence and determine the problem distribution by person, time or place. This will help me in determining the population exposed to the risks of the problem.
Confirming the presence of the specific health problem within the population will be an important procedure in providing proper management strategies. Carrying out diagnostic tests of the human specimens such as blood will confirm the disease presence. I will also carry out laboratory examinations and field tests of the proposed management measures of the intended health problem to test its effectiveness in controlling the problem within the population. Carrying out experimental hypothesis tests such as testing the effectiveness of an antibiotic towards a certain disease will determine the effectiveness of the proposed control measure. I will carry out the randomized test for the control measure such as antibiotic test within a selected part of the diseased population. A field test will follow where I will give the randomly-tested antibiotic to the population at risk. I will then confirm the effectiveness of the control measure through diagnostic tests. This will show whether the measure (antibiotic) has provided the required effects on reducing the disease incidence and will detect the developments that are likely to jeopardize the success of the control measure.
Each independent study mechanism used in studying the health problem cannot help in drawing conclusions. However, combining various independent mechanisms is more useful in drawing conclusions. Thinking in a consilient way will offer many benefits to the health service management in combining the evidences from each study method and providing proper conclusions.