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Overview
As nations across the globe face the rising tide of health care costs and the prospect of massive changes in the organization and financing of health care, many are questioning the future of medicine as a profession. Issues include: the evolving structure of physician autonomy, changes in the nature of the physician-patient relationship, shifts in the status of state-professional relations, and ultimately the reconceptualization of medicine and its place in society.
The Changing Medical Profession brings together twenty-one noted medical sociologists and public health experts to assess the changing status of the medical profession in fourteen countries around the world. The book is organized in three broad sections: a detailed treatment of the theoretical questions and debates being addressed by the work as a whole, case studies of individual countries illustrating the book's major themes, and three chapters of review and discussion, each stressing different perspectives regarding the lessons that international trends and variations hold for analysts of the medical professions.
There is no other book like this available today. Its theoretical grasp and international approach to this important health care topic makes it indispensable to anyone with an interest in the future of health care and the professions.
This book contains black-and-white illustrations.
Editorials
From The Critics
Reviewer: A. B. Ockerse, MD(University of Illinois at Chicago)Description: This book grew out of a special issue of the Millbank Quarterly in 1988, and is edited by two prominent authorities. It discusses and analyzes the issue of professional control in health care and also provides a number of international case studies.
Purpose: Its main purpose is to review relevant concepts in this field, with examples from different countries, and to indicate where further research is needed.
Audience: The audience is likely to include health planners, medical educators, social and political scientists, and, possibly, legal scholars.
Features: The case studies are one of the interesting features of this book, but they also represent a significant shortcoming in that they do not pursue a comparative methodology to explore the relevant forces at work, as suggested by one of the contributors, Dr. Freidson. The case studies do not seem to have been selected with this purpose in mind. Some omissions could have been corrected by more careful editorial supervision. The important topic of "quality of care" is raised in the introduction yetreceives li ttle explicit attention in the textand allusions to it are not cited in the index. Several important termse.g.clinical algorithmsare not mentioned in the index. Some important publications in this field are not mentioned, notably the work of McKeown."
Assessment: An important and timely topic is only partially addressed by this book. Its main limitation is the failure to use international comparisons to analyze the elements of professional control and dominance. This book would also have benefited from more rigorous editorial control and supervision.
A. B. Ockerse
This book grew out of a special issue of the Millbank Quarterly in 1988, and is edited by two prominent authorities. It discusses and analyzes the issue of professional control in health care and also provides a number of international case studies. "Its main purpose is to review relevant concepts in this field, with examples from different countries, and to indicate where further research is needed. "The audience is likely to include health planners, medical educators, social and political scientists, and, possibly, legal scholars. "The case studies are one of the interesting features of this book, but they also represent a significant shortcoming in that they do not pursue a comparative methodology to explore the relevant forces at work, as suggested by one of the contributors, Dr. Freidson. The case studies do not seem to have been selected with this purpose in mind. Some omissions could have been corrected by more careful editorial supervision. The important topic of quality of care is raised in the introduction yetreceives li ttle explicit attention in the textand allusions to it are not cited in the index. Several important termse.g.clinical algorithmsare not mentioned in the index. Some important publications in this field are not mentioned, notably the work of McKeown. "An important and timely topic is only partially addressed by this book. Its main limitation is the failure to use international comparisons to analyze the elements of professional control and dominance. This book would also have benefited from more rigorous editorial control and supervision.3 Stars from Doody