In health care, deprofessionalization occurs when there is a change in
the skill sets that are specific to that profession.
"Deprofessionalization refers to the decreasing distance, in
knowledge or education, between doctors and patients or the rise of
consumerism generally." (Coburn). For example, most hospitals
currently in the U.S. are under-staffed on qualified physicians that
are overworked. PAs, NPs, and LPNs help to fill the gap in patient
care by instead of their original role of working along side a provider,
they now have the professional freedom to care for patients
themselves. This saves the hospital on payroll costs and gives the
patients faster care using a distribution of power and resources but it
might not be the best quality care compared to an experienced and
more educated provider in a speciality. This does not eliminate the
original profession of a physician but I fear in the future quality care
may be compromised in order to save on healthcare costs by hiring
cheaper labor.
Another issue in deproessionalization in health care is the internet.
"The Internet constitutes a new and unique medium which expert
knowledge is accessible to anyone with a computer linked to a
network or modem. Medical dominance is challenged not only by
exposing exotic medical knowledge to the public gaze but also by
the presence of a wide range of information about and approaches to
health." (Hardey). Websites like WebMD and blogs are becoming
more popular to the public as an option to self diagnose symptoms
instead of paying for a doctor visit and insurance. This can potentially
lead to chronic illnesses. I myself am guilty of googling my symptoms
sometimes when I feel sick or off to save time going making an
appointment and driving to the doctor's office. I had pain in my lower
back one time and google said it could either be a sore muscle, a
bulging disk, a kidney stone or cancer! The results were so extreme
and vague I decided to go to the doctor and it turned out to just be a
tight muscle from working out. But some people might read those
other possible diagnosis and get scared or try to self medicate with
other approaches to health for a condition they don't even have,
while the real problem is slowly getting worse. The internet is packed
with an overload of information and a lot of times it is made up. I
don't think the internet will eliminate the profession of a physician
either, in fact, I think in the future more patients will seek quality
care by choosing to go to an educated professional versus internet
blogs or they could even video chat with their doctors at
the convenience of their homes.
References:
Coburn, D. (2001). The Medical Profession. International
Encyclopedia of the Social Behavioral Sciences.
Hardey, M. (1999), Doctor in the house: the Internet as a source of
lay health knowledge and the challenge to expertise. Sociology of
Health & Illness, 21: 820-835. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-
9566.00185
Retrieved
from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-
9566.00185
Engelhardt, H. T. (2002). Managed care and the deprofessionalization
of medicine. In The ethics of managed care: professional integrity and
patient rights (pp. 93-107).
