We all see the articles about what it takes to run a successful practice: slick marketing, conflict management, Web pages, team training, appropriate compensation packages, etc. The list is endless. Yet these topics are but condiments on a great hamburger. The substance of the hamburger is the patty. The substance of clinical medicine is a patient's assessment, diagnosis, treatment and plan. Do that well, and you will succeed. Do that poorly, and you must rely on the condiments for success.
Conversely, its absence causes a needlessly high risk of disease and death. For children, lack of vitamin A causes severe visual impairment and blindness, and significantly increases the risk of severe illness, and even death, from such common childhood infections as diarrhoeal disease and measles.
Leading Causes of Blindness. Nearly all cases of blindness in the United States are caused by eye diseases, with less than 4 percent of blindness caused by eye injury or trauma. About 77 percent of people who have eye injuries fully recover, while another 11 percent have mild impairment.