Health On The Internet : State University

The American Medical Association (AMA) published a Code of Ethics for Physicians that includes a list of certain principles physicians should follow in order to be good physicians, practicing in an ethical fashion. This list, which was first adopted in June of 1957 and revised as recently as June of 2001, demonstrates some principles that are not universally accepted to be critical to the ethical practice of a physician. In particular, all physicians do not completely believe the claim that “A physician shall support access to medical care for all people” (Principles of Medical Ethics). Theorist, H. Tristam Engelhardt believes that the lack of access to care for some may be unfortunate, but it is not unfair and that this access does not need to be mandated, nor does believing it should be make you an ethical physician. In fact, Engelhardt supremely believes that by providing access of care to all, you will hurt certain patients that already have access to care, negating your function as a physician practicing beneficence. Engelhardt would retract this statement from the Principles of Ethics. However, this belief of and drive to implement access of care to all is critical to one’s job as a physician and it goes against core values of physicians to claim otherwise. Theorists such as Tom Beauchamp and Norman Daniels would agree that the universal access to health care is a critical component of the values physicians hold.

Presence of a Duty of care: Physicians have a responsibility to treat people in a medically- appropriate manner.

Education of patients and families regarding the reliability of internet information is prudent. Given the enormous amount of information available via the World Wide Web, not all of which, as you illustrate, is reliable, it is of great importance that patients and families comprehend the unreliability of some of the information they may acquire. Patients who are unable to gain access to health care secondary to a lack of funds, insurance, or availability of their provider, may be inclined to review their symptoms utilizing a search engine. Moreover, patients who were incapable of accessing healthcare due to reasons other than a lack of insurance are more likely to utilize the internet to obtain health related

In the present, it is harder for doctors to leave patience uninformed with the help of Google or Web MD. Today internet has been an almost unlimited source of information at our fingertips. Sometimes people would get themselves paranoid by creating a self-diagnosis by using web MD. When a patient would go to hospitals, they ask more question and challenge doctors competence of what or why they might be diagnosed.

They serve as pillars of wisdom and guidance while exhibiting communication adroitness with care teams and patients to engineer top-notch medical care. To maintain high standards, effective medical professionals are constantly taking in new information through continuing education, placing providers at the pinnacle of knowledge. Moreover, physicians require affective aptitude as they must convey empathy during patient interactions. All these attributes draw me to seek the personal challenge and resulting responsibilities that are demanded. I desire to become an important contribution to society in a field I am passionate

In addition, teaching is a significant part of any doctor’s life. As physicians, we are constantly educating not only our patients and their families, but also other physicians, residents and medical students. A physician may know all the medical information in the world, but the care of a patient is primarily predicated on that physician’s ability to successfully

All too often in regards to medical treatment, physicians are taught everything known about the scientific approaches to disease but still fail to realize the important details of how the disease impacts the individual. Many physicians do not show empathy to their patients and instead just focus on the current diagnosis and the probable outcome. This creates a divide between patient and provider and can even lead to negative feelings of the patient that far outweigh the diagnosis itself. A feeling of hopelessness and despair may accompany the empty feeling that comes with failing to explore the patient’s perspective on care. In this essay, Parrish states,

Patients seek care and treatment in hopes of receiving confidential, unbiased, honest, and respectful treatment. They also expect that care providers maintain their personal values and beliefs related to their care. As healthcare

his or her patients feel better. However, there are cases where a doctor can only do so much.

Katz states, “the conviction that physicians should decide what is best for their patients, and, therefore, that the authority and power to do so should remain bested in them, continued to have deep hold on the practices of the medical profession “(214).

Many people use the internet to find health information for themselves, family and friends. The internet allows people to research, learn about illnesses, talk to others and order prescription medication. These may be beneficial but can also lead to complications. A structural functionalist would feel that internet based information on health or medicine is misleading and not helpful. Through the Structural functionalism lens, one can see that the internet cannot replace a doctor because not all websites are accurate and everybody reacts differently to different treatments. Structural functionalism is the view that society is a harmonized system consisting of interdependent functioning parts that become more complex as societies become more developed.

Coming from a background heavy in NICU and pediatric homehealth experience, I chose to create a hypothetical situation that related to a common problem that many children contract and spread. My demographic area has a large population of immigrants and lower income families, so education and effective communication is a must.

Lennox Hospital director Arun Swaminath directly approaches the argument by performing a study to see where patients gather information. They discovered “over 90 percent of patients searched the internet for

Sometimes physicians go so far as to make patients feel belittled and helpless. Patients, in turn, are relatively passive and accommodating, at least while they are with their doctors"(du Pre 53).

Nowadays, the number of people who have access to the internet has increased tremendously. This is one of the main reasons why many consumers/patients want to communicate to their physicians through online messaging. Online Patient-Clinician Messaging has the potential to improve the quality of medical care as it helps improve the relationship between the physician and the patient and it promotes greater involvement by patients in their own care (National Ethics Committee of the Veterans Health Administration, 2004, p. 2). Because of its benefits, there are many health care organizations that use online patient-clinician messaging. Veterans Health Administration makes patient-clinician messaging available through its My HealtheVet initiative. In addition, Kaiser Permanente also makes patient-clinician messaging available through “My Health Manager. My Health Manager is Kaiser Permanente 's personal health record, linked to its comprehensive electronic health record system, Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect(R). My Health Manager users can access their health records, view lab test results, email their physicians, request prescription refills, make, change and cancel appointments for themselves and, if authorized, also for family members ( Telemedicine Business Week, 2012).However, despite of the benefits of using online messaging, there are many physicians who are hesitant to adopt the practice. One of the main reasons is the ethical implications of patient-clinician