Abstract

As nations across the globe face the rising tide of health care costs and the prospect of massive changes in the organization and financing of health care, many are questioning the future of medicine as a profession. Issues include: the evolving structure of physician autonomy, changes in the nature of the physician-patient relationship, shifts in the status of state-professional relations, and ultimately the reconceptualization of medicine and its place in society. The Changing Medical Profession brings together twenty-one noted medical sociologists and public health experts to assess the changing status of the medical profession in fourteen countries around the world. The book is organized in three broad sections: a detailed treatment of the theoretical questions and debates being addressed by the work as a whole, case studies of individual countries illustrating the book's major themes, and three chapters of review and discussion, each stressing different perspectives regarding the lessons that international trends and variations hold for analysts of the medical professions. There is no other book like this available today. Its theoretical grasp and international approach to this important health care topic makes it indispensable to anyone with an interest in the future of health care and the professions.