The sick role of health and disease
The sick role concept as explained by Talcott Parsons (1951) illustrates the need to meet the expectations of the sick. This includes the norms, procedure of treatment and the care required. Ideally, being sick refers to the patterns that are necessary as opposed to being a condition. The American sociologist in his concept laid emphasis on the entering “sanctioned deviance”. Deviance illustrates the failure to follow the set norms (Varul n.d, 72). Notably, the functional perspective in sociological views that a sick individual is not productive hence needs attention to straightening the disturbed sociological functioning.
Empirically, health refers to a normal condition in which a person fulfills the requirements of a normal sociological system. The state of health of a person determines the outcome of production. The society strives to sustain the production and ensure normalcy throughout one’s lifetime. A healthy status is attached to positive prevention behaviors. Typically, such behavior aids in the reduction of contracting any disease (Varul n.d, 79). Further, the secondary action relates to the way an individual uses various mechanisms to ensure that the disease does not spread. Further, tertiary prevention majorly is linked to the sick role as pointed out by Parsons. The symptomatic conditions are handled since the progressive prevention of the disease is done impulsively.
On the other hand, disease indicates the form of deviance. Ideally, a kind of legitimization is adapted to check if the person is genuinely sick. When the evidence is established, good expectations are set (Varul n.d, 82). The kind of evidence found is sufficient to give proof just the way a doctor diagnoses a patient complaining of a particular illness. Diseases cause irregular behavioral patterns of individuals that are against the society’s expectations.
The physicians/patients relationships
The relationship has been the keystone of care; the medium through data is gathered, plans and diagnosis are made, compliance and healing of the patient are accomplished, and finally, the patient activation and the support are provided. The relationship between the patient and the physician starts when the physician assumes the role of undertaking the medical care or the treatment of the patient.
The medical interview is the major medium of the healthcare established through relationship. Most of the medical encounter are spent in discussion between the patient and the doctor. The interview has three functions that are developing and maintaining the therapeutic relationship, gathering information and communicating information. The relationship causes interaction to happen between the patient and nurse. The patient should trust the practitioner to disclose the information efficiently. The anxious patient will never communicate the information clearly. The relationship will, therefore, help in determining the completeness and quality of the information elicited and understood. It influences the patient and the practitioner satisfaction hence, contributes to the prevention and maintenance of the practitioner turnover and burnout. It increases the chances of the patience to ask questions and participate in caring their health and have better satisfaction.
The relationship established should be neutral and safe and allows the therapeutic alliance to grow. It depends on the doctor creating an environment of the mutual respect and trust which the patients can have safety and confidence. It is important because there is the creation of trustworthiness and the doctor will act in good conscience and good faith concerning posting confidence. The weak relationship will hinder the communication between the physician and the patient. The patient may feel wasting physicians time and omit details of their health history which they see as unimportant.
Ways in which the medical profession exercises social control
Sociologists believe health as a state of thorough wellbeing. For instance, physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. It is established that the state of being disease free and having a healthy body depends upon a healthy surrounding and a stable mind. In a sociological perspective, the role played by society assumes that a functional society depends on the health of the population and the extent of controlling diseases. While other models describe illness as a mechanical function, for instance, the biomedical model, the sociologists such as Parsons describe illness as temporary. He was on the idea that a sick person attributes conflicting drives of both to recover from the disease and exemption from regular duties. Parsons further argued that for one to be exempted from regular duties, the sick person needs to seek a doctor's advice and maintain full treatment to get well (Scott 2008).
According to Marxist doctors serve as social control agents. They ensure the workforce remains healthy. Productivity is increased with a healthy workforce. Together with the capitalists, the work to make sure that people get to work as soon as possible. On the other hand, ethnic explanations argue that heart issues among the minority groups are a result of ill-health. This is alleged to be caused by low wages and deprived working conditions. The early foundation of hospital-based medicine in the late 18th and early 19th century was associated with the social changes in industrialization. During this time, the doctor-patient balance began to be realized. The hospitals became training centers to develop new professions in medicine. Every practice by the doctors contributes to the social construction and reproduction of “biomedical course” (American Medical Association. (n.d.)).
Medical profession's contribution to ill health
The primary aim of a health system is to prevent disease and lower poor health rates. The process is to facilitate the healthy population and to ensure sustainability of reduced ill health. In the past centuries, the biggest challenges were to prevent infectious diseases and improvement of maternal and child health. In the 21st century, the changes affecting climate, water, air, and other influences of the physical environment. An increase in chronic diseases has led to the need for prevention. The health profession takes part in the prevention of illness among the population. The medical professionals implement prevention of diseases that cause ill health in three ways, this include; primary prevention which involves reducing the likelihood of contracting diseases. For instance, immunization. Secondary prevention involves minimizing the progress of the disease at an early age. Lastly, tertiary prevention that stops the progression of damage already caused by the illness (American Medical Association. (n.d.)). Professionally planned prevention programs have substantial contributions to quality life and increased life expectancy. Recently, the medical profession made a significant contribution in the improving the effects major illnesses such as trauma, tobacco control, and drink-driving, skin cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and childhood infection diseases. The successful prevention of illness has reduced consequences of disease health and disability. It has allowed proper utilization of health system utilities and fostered a healthy workforce (Scott 2008).
The medical profession also enhances medical promotion. The development refers to the activities that promote people to gain control over determinants of healthy living. Health education has been enhanced by the medical profession to increase awareness of the population. The social marketing is used to support health and discourage such policies as taxation and regulation (Scott 2008).
Analyze the political economy of the health industry
The political economy of health is the body of analysis and perspective on health that seeks t understand the conditions which shape the health service development and the population health within the political and macroeconomic development. To understand how the global economy and how it impacts the health, the discipline seeks to locate and analyze within the political environment and checks the interplay between the politics and economics (American Medical Association, n.d.). The significant issues of regulation review are intended to contribute to the development of the political economy of the health care.
Health is like any other aspect of human life; it is political in many ways. For instance, health is political since other commodities or the resources under the neoliberal economic system, some of the groups within the health have more of it than the other groups (American Academy of Family Physicians Division of Medical Education, n.d., p. 11). Also, the social determinants are amenable to the political interventions and thereby, they depend mostly on the political action or the inaction.
Health improvement is directly linked to the economic growth, particularly through the improved labor productivity. People's health is exchanged for the economic growth and the diseases which are associated with the price of the economic growth. People's healthy are valued because it contributes to the labor productivity (American Medical Association, n.d.). The health, in turn, is consumed and transformed into wealth contributing to the economic growth.
References
Varul, M. Z. (n.d.). Talcott Parsons, the Sick Role and Chronic Illness. Body & Society, 16(2), 72-94. Retrieved from https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/handle/10871/15021/Talcott%20Parsons,%20the%20Sick%20Role%20and%20Chronic%20Illness.pdf?sequence=4
American Academy of Family Physicians Division of Medical Education. (n.d.). Tips on Building Doctor/Patient Relations. Retrieved from http://www.aafp.org/dam/AAFP/documents/medical_education_residency/fmig/tips_relationships.pdf
American Medical Association. (n.d.). Error. Retrieved from http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/medical-ethics/code-medical-ethics/opinion10015.page?
Scott, J. (2008). Modes of power and the re-conceptualization of elites in nursing. The Sociological Review, 56, 25-43. doi:10.1111/j.1467-954x.2008.00760.x
