The Changing medical profession : an international perspective /

Around the world more and more countries are engaged in reevaluation of their health care systems. Factors related to cost, quality, access, and technology are at the heart of the health care debate. Within this debate questions are being raised about the future of medicine as a profession. In this three-part book, the editors have brought together a stellar group of contributors who have outstanding credentials in their respective fields. Part 1 covers issues of theoretical and conceptual perspective, providing the reader with the tools for understanding the relationship between the state and professions. Part 2 contains 11 case studies exploring the changing character of the medical profession from different political, social, cultural, and historical contexts. Part 3 provides discussion and perspective. Chapter authors were provided drafts of the book's individual chapters and, based on this material, were asked to put the changing nature of medicine as a profession into international context. The book's organization helps the reader achieve an understanding of the material by providing a conceptual framework from which to explore the case studies and, at the end of the book, discussion chapters to reevaluate these case studies. Upper-division undergraduate through professional. R. L. Jones; Pennsylvania State University, Hershey Medical Center