My Reflection On The Sociology Of Health Care

As I reflect on the past semester of this class, I can think of multiple things I learned, as well as a few topics I wish we had touched on more. I took this class because I want to be a social worker in a hospital setting and thought it would be to my advantage to learn about the sociology of health. Even though I am not going to become a doctor or a nurse, I learned several things that will help me in the setting of my future job, as well as a better understanding of terms and processes from the patient side of things. I have come up with five reasons why this course is relevant for students thinking about health related careers. The first reason why this course is relevant is there was a lot of learning about medical terms and what they

I also did not know the meanings of different insurance terms, like PPO and HMO. Another reason this course is relevant is that it gives a better understanding of the role of providers. Coming into this class I did not know there were different models of physician-patient relationships, nor did I consciously think about how providers may treat certain groups of people differently. The third reason I came up with was the knowledge gained about the Affordable Care Act. Although it is in the news all the time, I personally did not know many details about it. I found the history behind it extremely interesting, and I think it is important to be knowledgeable about since it is a huge topic in our government today. Being able to know how insurance works is also a reason why this course is good for students going into health related careers. This also blends in with my first reason, understanding medical terms. I knew Blue Cross and Blue Shield, but never knew where the names came from. My understanding of

I am a strong advocate for mental health awareness, so the more discussion of that in the realm of health care the better. Mental health is just as important as physical health, so it should be discussed with more focus. I know we touched on it a little, but not enough to really make anything stick. Some patients feel fear when discussing mental health with their doctors, because they are afraid they might judge them or tell them they are making it up. By educating those wanting to go into health care early about this, it will eliminate the fear when doctors are viewed as approachable and patients know their providers are not going to judge them. Dealing with incurable illness is the second topic I think could be touched on more in a health sociology class. Dr. Yiee talked about working with terminally ill patients, but I think it would be beneficial to make a strong point that a cancer diagnosis is not the only time you would be working with a potentially incurable illness. Going back to the mental illness suggestion, sometimes mental illness can be incurable as well, and that could end up affecting a person’s physical well being. Bedside manners with incurable illness would be a good thing to discuss also. Everyone would feel bad for those who are unable to be treated, but knowing the importance of separating yourself from it without