Part A:
With the explosive growth in the 1990s of managed care that were sold by health insurance companies, physicians were suddenly renamed “providers.” That began the deprofessionalization of medicine, and within a short time patient became “consumers” (The New York Times). The shifts in American medicine are clearly leading to physicians' losing power, which results in deprofessionalization. The subsequent deprofessionalization of physicians should not surprise Americans. Although many people spend time and effort evaluating the present state of medicine, they fail to integrate an important piece of information: physicians and sociologists predicted all of today's events more than ten years ago (Hensel, 1988).
Deprofessionalization, defined
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Or in other times, deprofessionalization primary means that there is a point of decline in a profession’s autonomy as well as control over clients. Social conditions that have led to the deprofessionalization of medicine include a few clauses: Increased medical costs have not come increased benefits in terms of health, no equity in the distribution of health services, increasing concern about the cost, and Efficacy of modern medicine is fundamentally questionable (HowMed).
Deprofessionalization of medicine affects the way those of the medical profession interact with patients greatly. Healthcare providers are forced by law to violate the values that make them who they are because of the request of customers demanding goods and services in the free market. This signals the end of medicine as a professional practice. It makes medicine just another exchange of goods and services as well as putting patients in the role of customers, ordering whatever they want from physicians. For example, an orthopedic surgeon would be forced to cut off a patient’s perfectly healthy leg rather than insisting that
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Parson’s sick role generalizes today’s modern-day view of the sick role. It is the role given to those who experience illness beyond the physical condition of a sick state- it constitutes a social role because behaviors are shaped by institutional expectations and reinforced by the norms of society. It's based on the assumption that being sick is not deliberate or a choice of that person. According to Parsons, the sick role requires an ill person to fulfil a series of obligations to gain many rights. They are obliged to: Seek medical advice, cooperate with medical experts and therapists throughout their illness, want to get well as quickly as possible (Cockerham, 2016). In return for fulfilling these obligations they are exempt from social responsibilities and self-care, which are taken upon by family and friends. These rights, however, are granted only when a recognized medical authority, such as a doctor, acknowledges the person’s illness. Some illnesses do not justify people claiming all the rights of the sick role. For example, minor ailments may be self-treated and should not require time off work. In such circumstances, an inappropriate adoption of the sick role puts a strain on this social contract and may be met with a lack of sympathy from family and careers. This reaction can also occur when people who are genuinely sick fail to follow prescribed medical advice (Parsons,
During 1951 Parson was the first to debate about the sick role. According to Parson, there are the few expectations which need to be met before considering individual sick. Firstly, individual should not cause their own health problem an example could be by eating a high-fat food which leads to overweight and linked to type 2 diabetes. An individual receives a less sympathy. Secondly, individual who is sick must adamant to get well otherwise will see as faking the illness. Thirdly, an individual illness should be confirmed by a physician so they can follow the instruction. The relationship between the physician and the patient is hierarchical where the instruction is provided by the physician and followed by the
The concepts discussed within the article regarding medicalization and changes within the field of medicine served to be new knowledge for me as the article addressed multiple different aspects regarding the growth of medicalization from a sociological standpoint. Furthermore, the article “The Shifting Engines of Medicalization” discussed the significant changes regarding medicalization that have evolved and are evidently practiced within the contemporary society today. For instance, changes have occurred within health policies, corporatized medicine, clinical freedom, authority and sovereignty exercised by physicians has reduced as other factors began to grow that gained importance within medical care (Conrad 4). Moreover, the article emphasized
Not all cases is patient autonomy the most important thing to respect and honor. There will always be situations where Medical paternalism is justified. Justifiable paternalism in a medical perspective is prolonging patients’ lives allowing them to exercise their autonomy. Failing to respect a patient’s treatment requests or denials is a violation of the autonomy at that point in time during their illness. While the previous statement is true, the medical professional is violating a patient’s future autonomy. For this reason, medical professionals have the right to act paternalistically, therefore medical paternalism is justified by means of future autonomy and obligations to promote patient
According to Harry A. Sultz and Kristina M. Young, the authors of our textbook Health Care USA, medical care in the United States is a $2.5 Trillion industry (xvii). This industry is so large that “the U.S. health care system is the world’s eighth
Doctors play a major role in society today because doctors will use medicalization to gain power to their name or to their practices and more importantly their income. Another reason why medicalization is apparent in society has also to do with MCOs. MCOs are health insurance providers that restrain costs by monitoring closely the health services given to patients. MCOs either support or oppose medicalization, depending on which tactic best protects their interests (Weitz, 2012,
At first, I believed that a patient should have the say so and get what they demand. I didn’t feel sympathetic for the health care provider one bit. I was able to look through the eyes of a physician and see the trials that they have to go through. It is not easy making the decisions that they have to make. There job is based on decisions, and most of it is the patient’s. “There will certainly be times when I will be faced with a request from a patient or patient’s representative that I will personally find morally difficult, but one that is still legally and ethically acceptable. must be very difficult to work in an area with little control over what you want to do.” (Bradley 1). Even though I do not fully understand a health care providers everyday role, I do know that they are faced with painful options. I personally feel that I can not work in this field for that exact reason. Health care providers play an extremely important role in our society, and others need to look upon
Medical malpractice has become a controversial social issue. From a doctor’s standpoint, decisions and preventative actions can alter the medical malpractice lawsuits filed against them. In order to protect their career and professional life medical malpractice insurance is available. Medical professional liability insurance, sometimes known as medical malpractice insurance, is one type of professional liability insurance. “Professional liability refers to liability that arises from a failure to use due care and the standard of care expected from a person in a particular profession, in this case a doctor, dentist, nurse, hospital or other health-related organization” (Brandenburg, 2014).
While the concept of the profession began in the 17th century, our paper will focus more on the contemporary American history starting in the 1940s. Dr. Amos Johnson, a founder of the American Board of Family Practice, hired a hospital orderly named Henry Treadwell to assist in the daily activities of his office. Dr. Johnson’s practice in Garland, North Carolina, initiated the spread of the physician assistant model across the state. Dr. Eugene Stead and his general medicine residents at Duke University took interest in this idea. In 1942, due to the lack of adequate medical care during World War II, Dr. Stead created a three year medical doctorate fast-track program. This sparked the idea that perhaps one day he could implement a similar program to alleviate the physician shortage in the United States.
Providers must act in the best interest of the patient and their basic obligation is to do no harm and work for the public’s wellbeing. A physician shall always keep in mind the obligation of preserving human life. Providers must communicate full, accurate and unbiased information so patients can make informed decisions about their health care. As a result of their recommendations, providers are responsible for generating costs in health care but do not generate the need for those expenses. Every hospital has both an ethical as well as a legal responsibility to provide care, even if the care may be uncompensated.
The number of doctors that present in the United States of America directly affects the communities that these doctors serve and plays a large role in how the country and its citizens approach health care. The United States experienced a physician surplus in the 1980s, and was affected in several ways after this. However, many experts today have said that there is currently a shortage of physicians in the United States, or, at the very least, that there will be a shortage in the near future. The nation-wide statuses of a physician surplus or shortage have many implications, some of which are quite detrimental to society. However, there are certain remedies that can be implemented in order to attempt to rectify the problems, or alleviate some of their symptoms.
Professionalism is an adherence to a set of values comprising both a formally agreed-upon code of conduct and the informal expectations of colleagues, clients and society. The key values include acting in a patient's interest, responsiveness to the health needs of society, maintaining the highest standards of excellence in the practice of medicine and in the generation and dissemination of knowledge. In addition to medical knowledge and skills, medical professionals should present psychosocial and humanistic qualities such as caring, empathy, humility and compassion, as well as social responsibility and sensitivity to people's culture and beliefs. All these qualities are expected of members of highly trained professions.
O’Brian, J. M., (2003). How Nurse Practitioners obtained provider status: History of nurse practitioners. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 60(22). Retrieved from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/464663_2
Professionalism initiative. (2012). Informally published manuscript, Medical Center, University of Kansas, Kansas City, KS, Retrieved from http://www.kumc.edu/school-of-medicine/fafd/professionalism-initiative.html
Bernard, D. & Shulkin, D. (1998). The media vs. managed health care. Archives of Internal Medicine, 158, 2109-2111.
According to World Health Organization health is defined as “‘state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity’”. The terminology of “sick” and “well” is socially constructed from the community, family, friends, and work. Health is viewed differently on the demographic map, and communities. Gaining brighter insight into the use of health, we begin to understand the sociological perspectives. Functionalist believe that sick role is “societal expectations about the attitude and behavior of a person viewed being ill”. Early influential functionalist emphasis medicine’s role to maintain or even cure a ‘”normal”’ functioning individuals of society. In simple words, the patient or individual would be seeking to get well. It was also understood functionalist believe even disabled people were classified as sick. The downfall with functionalism is they confuse impairment and disability with the “sick role”. Talcott Parson, who is well known for his contribution to functionalism theory, outlined the behavior required of people who are considered sick. In summary he believed they are exempted from their normal, day-to-day activities. Yet they are