Doctor and patient, now at odds... is that really what is going on?
Or are things just somewhat (and not unexpectedly) different than they were in the past?
Mainstream medical knowledge is not only available to physicians and those "few" who had enough education to be able to digest medical texts. Physicians, at least it seems from some of the readings this semester, have been humanized.
Also, do internet resources replace folk remedies of the past as a burr in the physician's side? I'd guess that most people of the far past who tried folk remedies would often not seek a physican, period. The difference today is that much of the information available on the internet directs people towards treatments that must be dealt through a physician. And now some "patients" (are they really?) enter a doctor's office (I've encountered this while shadowing), printout in hand, basically demanding services based upon their own research. It'll be interesting dealing with this as I my career develops.
1 comment:
Great post to the blog. Interesting thoughts.
My notion is that things are probably not much different than a long time ago. The knowledge gap between physician and patient has always been present. The internet is a useful resource; and the internet is also (sometimes) a very inaccurate resource.
In a hundred years - I presume much of what we are doing in medicine will be laughed at. Not that we don't don't care; not that we don't have great ways to help a lot of folks - - - but I do believe it will be laughed at. The things that are very 'wrong' will come to represent a way for future physicians to separate from the past of this profession - - - but, the main ideas of patient/physician interaction will still be very important and not terribly changed (in my view.)
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