Queen of the Professions

The Rise and Decline of Medical Prestige and Power in America

Inbunden, Engelska, 2014

1 539 kr

Beställningsvara. Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar. Fri frakt för medlemmar vid köp för minst 249 kr.

American medicine is under serious attack. The health care system is falling short of its major goal, improving the health of the population. The United States ranks only 35th in world life expectancy. But where American medicine arguably remains at a pinnacle in the world – in the status, wealth and power of the profession of medicine -- physicians are in danger of losing first rank. As other professions close the gap, their top economic position is threatened. Slippage may be measured also by other, less quantifiable factors, such as the highest prestige of physicians among all learned occupations.Queen of the Professions: The Rise and Decline of Medical Prestige and Power in America is a colorful yet authoritative work of social history offering readers a sturdy platform from which to confront looming issues about the future of American medical care. Its unique perspective brings crucial context to current debates about modern medicine, exploring in entertaining detail its historical foundations and its present and future challenges.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2014-10-15
Mått162 x 236 x 21 mm
Vikt454 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor214
FörlagBloomsbury Publishing Plc
ISBN9781442226302

Tillhör följande kategorier

Den medicinska professionen inom Medicin

Acknowledgments and PrefaceIntroduction: What Makes a Profession a Profession?Part I: From Healing Art to Scientific Profession: Medicine 500 B.C.E. to 1850 C.E.1: Swearing by Apollo2: The Levant: Saving Grace of the Middle Ages3: Physicians, Barbers and “Old Wives”4: Hospitals or Hospices?5: Gifts from the Sister SciencesPart II:The Making of a Doctor: The Evolution of Medical Education6: Acolytes and Apprentices7: Starting with Salerno: Europe’s First Medical Schools8: From Sacrilege to Science: Dissection and Observation9: Three Paths Leading to Modern Medical Education10: Money Talks: Abraham Flexner’s Reforms11: High Tech, Low Touch?Part III: Changing Concepts of Medical Ethics: When Values Collide12: A Sacred Trust: Roots of MedicalEthics 13: First, Do No Harm: The Introduction of Humanistic Values14: The Physician as Gentle-man15: Balancing Individual and Public Benefit: Experimental Abuses16: Gods No More: The Rise of Patients’ Rights17: Collisions of CulturesPart IV: The Future of Medicine as a Profession: From Hippocrates to Dr. House18: Cures, at Last!19: The Conundrum of Insurance: Raising Income, Threatening Autonomy20: Expanding Access to the Physician’s Role21: What It All MeansBibliographyIndex

Medicine as a profession has a protracted ancestry with origins located deep in antiquity. Tracing the ancestry of the profession to inform the present is the motivation behind this work. In this context, social historian McClelland provides a broad historical overview of the rise of professional medicine within the context of social theory. He begins the four-part work with a discussion of the origins of the profession from the time of the early Greeks through 1850. In later sections, he focuses on the evolution of medical education, ethics, and the future of the profession. One of the more interesting observations the author makes is that with the rise of so many mid-level medical, nursing, and health professionals, the current environment appears similar to the environment prior to the release of the Flexner Report in the early 20th century. How this came about and the implications for the profession's future are well addressed. Written in an academic style, the book is supported by ten pages of chapter notes and a four-page bibliography. Valuable for all academic audiences and an important resource for professionals in the health field, especially those in medicine. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above.