I took a sociology class last semester about health and society and we learned a little about our western-medical culture. One viewpoint that scared me, was a paternalistic value system, in which the doctor has the higher power over patients ("the doctor knows best" mentality). And the doctor-patient relationship was very weak. In most responses of classmates I believe most will say that they feel this way. It is said on average doctors try to spend less than 10-15 min with each patient. It can be because they need to attend more people, but at the same time, they should be giving their undivided attention without you having a time limit (we are paying for it!). Doctors should be in this field to want take care of people and love it. The sociology book I read also stated how medical students are taught to have an objective view point in where no personal feelings/ opinions should be given when speaking to patients. Their goal is to diagnose and treat.
I think our culture has made it this way in order to keep things easier for workers. There are many people that go to doctors/hospitals etc. and for things to not complicate themselves medical students are taught not to get into any personal conflicts/opinions so companies are not reliable for anything that happens. They can just blame it on science and procedures.
Given what we have learned so far I think our medical culture can benefit from change. One of the articles we had to read talked about a women feeling inferior and meaningless to doctors as they kept her unclothed. It is little things like this that medical field workers should focus on. First changing the doctor- patient relationship to a more balanced, leveled out field will help patients feel more comfortable and reliant on their doctors. And the doctors can benefit from this by obtaining more information about their patients and having well rounded observations instead of just biological information, because a lot of social factors contribute to illness/diseases.
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