Message-Id: <199811091938.NAA30976@mailhub.iastate.edu>
Date: Mon, 09 Nov 1998 13:39:02 -0600
To: MedSoc@csf.colorado.edu
From: Jacquelyn S Litt <jlitt@iastate.edu>
Subject: Re: Request for Info - Culture & Healthcare 
In-Reply-To: <199811091920.OAA25258@graf.cc.emory.edu>
References: <9811099106.AA910632574@gvsu.edu>
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Hi all;

I really like this line of discussion. I've just completed a book
(forthcoming Rutgers Press) on how women, in their everyday practices as
mothers,  negotiate the meaning and uses of medical discourse in the care
of their children. It has struck me too that much of medical sociology is
physician-(and provider-) focused and thus that we miss much of how
medicine and science  happens "on the street" (or in the household!) not
just in medical offices or scientific labs. Emily Martin's book, Flexible
Bodies, is another example of this street-level approach.

Jackie Litt
Assistant Professor
Sociology and Women's Studies
Iowa State University


At 02:21 PM 11/9/98 -0400, you wrote:
>Gayla - I like your comment because it floored me.  I admit that I 
>was so focused on the question at hand I completely overlooked my own
>implicit biases.  Thanks for keeping the conversation honest.  I also 
>think that perhaps the best question would be how is care negotiated 
>amongst health care professionals, particularly since the physician 
>will be the one with the final "legitimate" decision for a treatment 
>regimen, particularly a pharmaceutical treatment, although the actual 
>diagnosis and primary care will be based on the decision of a nurse 
>practitioner, PA, or a physical/mental health therapist.  At least in 
>GA scheduled pharmies can only be prescribed by MD/DO's (although 
>there is always a dialogue on the need of PA's, NP's, and clinical 
>psychologists to have the capability for some meds), what about other 
>states?
>
>Dave
>
>> 
>>      We are well past time that physicians are looked to as the primary 
>>      source of information or data from the health care field.  About 16 
>>      other kinds of providers exist for every physician.  Patients spend 
>>      incredibly more time with nurses than with physicians.  By focusing 
>>      mostly on physicians, med sociologists inadvertantly perpetuate the 
>>      "cultural authority" (Paul Starr) and hegemonic dominance of the 
>>      medical profession.  We must begin to look more thoroughly at the 
>>      health care profession and various of providers of care and not just 
>>      the "medical field".
>>      This comment is not meant to point fingers at you, Melvin.  I'm 
>>      venting my frustration at an academic group who espouse critical 
>>      analysis....yet continue to support physician hegemony.
>>      
>>      
>> 
>> 
>> ______________________________ Reply Separator
_________________________________
>> Subject: Request for Info - Culture & Healthcare 
>> Author:  <MedSoc@csf.colorado.edu > at internet
>> Date:    11/5/98 9:32 AM
>> 
>> 
>>      
>>      
>> Hello Everyone.
>>      
>> Does anyone know of books, journal articles, or other materials that
provide 
>> discussion on conflicts that arise between patients and physicians (or
other 
>> allied medical personnel) who hold different/conflicting cultural
beliefs about 
>> what constitutes appropriate diagnosis and treatment of health problems?   
>>      
>> Any information you can provide will be appreciated.
>>      
>> Melvin Bobo
>> Department of Sociology
>> Iowa State University
>> e-mail: melb12902@sprynet.com
>>      
>> 
>> 
>> 
>David M. Long, MPH
>Department of Family and Preventive Medicine
>Emory University School of Medicine
>69 Butler Street, SE
>Atlanta, Georgia 30303-3219
>404-616-2389 (voice)
>404-616-6847 (fax)
>dlong@fpm.eushc.org
>
>"Man makes himself... Life is nothing until it is 
>lived." - Jean-Paul Sartre 
>
>"God can be shaped. God is Change." - Octavia Butler
>
>"The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like 
>a nightmare on the brain of the living." - Karl Marx
>
>"Resist or serve." - D. Long
> 
Jacquelyn Litt
Assistant Professor
Sociology/Women's Studies 
Iowa State University
107 East Hall
Ames, Iowa 50011-1070

PH:  (515) 294-8879
FAX: (515)294-2303  
FAX: (515) 294-3613 (fall semester 1998)