Mike Nova:
Comments to FOCUS (CME) articles on "Quality and Professionalism in Psychiatry"
It is difficult to assess the degree of bias in these articles and their main lines of thought because they are inevitably culture and historical moment bound. It can be argued, that (at least some of) the roots of abysmal state of quality of health care in the USA (as compared with other developed countries) are in:
- Perception and practice of medicine by its practitioners AS BUSINESS with corresponding drives and motivation for business success
- Perception of health and health care (and also health and health care INFORMATION) AS A COMMODITY which can be commercially transacted: bought and sold, with "logically" and inevitably resulting inequalities in access to them and a great reluctance to reveal and share this information on the part of physicians, who view it as their "property" and a part of their "capital"; while, in fact, if it is a "property", it definitely belongs first and most of all to the patient.
This leads to psychological and practical difficulties in making health and health care information truly portable, functional and a subject to free and unimpeded exchange.
_____________________________________________
FOCUS
Quality and Professionalism in Psychiatry
In This Issue
