Today’s New York Times has an
article on the importance of social science knowledge for medical students. http://nyti.ms/HLd5E2
The medical school admissions
test will now have several questions related to the social and behavioral
sciences, apparently especially anthropology, psychology, and sociology. More
premed students are predicted to take introductory courses in these areas. This
new emphasis on the social and behavioral sciences recognizes that health and
medicine are not just scientific issues and that sociology and the other social
sciences are very relevant for attempts to improve the health our nation and
the practice of medicine.
As a sociologist, I’ve long
thought that health professionals would benefit from an understanding of some
of the emphases of sociology: racial, gender, and social class inequality;
social interaction; social institutions; and so forth. I’ve also thought that
issues of health and health care reflect and illustrate these emphases, and
that students who take sociology classes benefit sociologically from learning
about health and health care issues.
The introduction to sociology
text I’ve authored for Flat World Knowledge has a chapter on health and health
care, as does the social problems text I am now finishing up for Flat World. These
are among my favorite chapters in these books because issues of poverty, racial
and ethnic inequality, and gender inequality manifest themselves so often and
so clearly in the study of health and health care. By reading about health and
health care in these books, then, students will learn a lot about larger
problems in American society. And by knowing more about these problems, they
will be in a better position someday to perhaps help to resolve them.
This article is getting a lot of evil looks by pre-med students also. They're thinking it's just one more step that they have to complete to get to their destination. So much of the journey to medical school and medical school itself is jumping through hoops or so perceived hoop jumping and often students simply follow one-another blindly without examining if the field is actually the one for them. For example: is it an important trait for a physician to be all-embracing of every culture, gender, religion, sexual orientation, social class, race, etc? Does that make a difference in the care they provide as long as they're not discriminating?
ReplyDeleteI am a current medical student and recognize that most of the hoop jumping plays a part in molding us into competent physicians in the future. I agree that the social aspect of medicine is ignored up until medical school... and that depends on the medical school as to how much emphasis is put on that subject when students get there. My school happens to put a lot of emphasis on the social aspect of medicine and it is one of the most difficult subjects to talk about at my school also. We have racial, political, religious discrimination that is palpable on our campus. I am a strong believer that having a background in sociology before attending medical school does put our society at an advantage after seeing first hand how opposite future physicians act from how we're expected to act when the topics are actually freely discussed. Perhaps other medical schools have turn their shoulder to the subject and haven't been aware just how unsavy our future physicians are about sociology topics until now. I know if I were on the admissions board I would be screening students more closely for experience with these topics.
A belated thanks for your very thoughtful comment. I certainly agree with you on the importance of some sociological knowledge for the practice of medicine! Best of luck to you on your medical career...
DeleteSteve Barkan
I really had fun reading this blog of yours. Not only is it informative, but it's also entertaining as well.
ReplyDeletesociology graduate programs