Exploding knowledge and fading professionalism the new doctor-patient relationship in Internet era

• In Event: 1555 - Section on Science, Knowledge, and Technology Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 4. In Pursuit of Health: Patient Care and Medical Knowledge

Abstract

The Internet has facilitated the acquisition of knowledge. However, in an age when it seems that everyone has access to every knowledge, what will become of the professions whose main mission is to master those knowledges? How does the diffusion of knowledge affect professionals with expertise? This research proposal focuses on the interaction between doctors and patients. The author aims to clarify that, within a specific institutional or cultural context, patients’ perceptions on medical knowledge (i.e. knowledge as power, and knowledge as social construction) constitute two possible mechanisms that knowledge affect professional autonomy or jurisdiction. Specifically, the growing knowledge has dual meanings for patients: 1) under the institutional background of marketization reform on China’s health care system, accessible knowledge empowers patients to resist doctors' moral hazard; 2) under the unique development sequence of Chinese medicine, the democratized knowledge has created an illusion that everyone has the possibility to become a “medical expert”. Although both mechanisms can lead to incompliance with medical professionals, the social consequences between the two are not the same. The former case might set the stage for conflicts between doctors and patients, while in the latter one, patients are more likely to abandon the treatment of contemporary medicine and turn to astray.

Author

• Yaxin Lan, The Chinese University of Hong Kong