Physician Education and Patient Experience: Exploring the Gap in Medical Education

• In Event: 343 - Section on Medical Sociology Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 07. Healthcare Professions I

Abstract

In the U.S., pain carries enormous social, psychological, and economic costs. Social and political forces within and outside of healthcare have identified physicians as the appropriate experts to treat pain. Yet, medical schools spend a relatively modest amount of time teaching future physicians about pain and pain management. Medical school curricula regarding pain content varies greatly. This study draws on interviews with twenty-one medical administrators and teaching faculty in a pain-related field to explore 1) why medical schools vary so much in their treatment of pain and 2) what factors propel some schools to adopt more comprehensive approaches to pain education than others. Respondents describe environments and decision-making processes that are consistent with aspects of institutional isomorphism, gradual institutional change, and early stages of diffusion. Respondents also discuss pain in ways that emphasize its contested nature, further elucidating why medical schools do not consistently address the topic.

Author

• Elizabeth Anne Luth, State University of New Jersey-Rutgers