Gastrointestinal endoscopy- An emerging soft power in health care

Abstract

“Soft power” is a relatively new concept that describes an entity’s ability to influence and alter the behavior of other entities through attraction and co-option, in contrast to hard power which uses incentives and coercion. Assessment of the role of GI GI (Gastrointestinal) Endoscopy in present day’s health care shows it to have the required attractive and influential properties of a soft power. In this article we examine the diagnostic and therapeutic roles that GI endoscopy, as a soft power, has taken over, and the further evolution of this field into a smart power.

Keywords

• gastrointestinal endoscopy
• natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery
• radiology
• soft power