Medical Practice and Its Relationship to the Medicalization, Biomedicalization and Technologicalization of Society and Life

authors:

avatar Rafael Antonio Vargas 1 , 2 , *

School of Medicine, Universidad Antonio Nariño, Bogotá, Colombia
Faculty of Medicina, Universidad Antonio Nariño, Colombia

how to cite: Antonio Vargas R. Medical Practice and Its Relationship to the Medicalization, Biomedicalization and Technologicalization of Society and Life. J Med Edu. 2019;18(1):e105663. https://doi.org/10.22037/jme.v18i1.22477.

Abstract

Medical practice, which is defined as the development of doctor-patient relationships, is a technical procedure that is carried out in a social context, which is historically determined and affects society.Elements of this relationship involve doctors, patients, and social contexts interacting in a bidirectional manner. In the last century, the field of health, through doctor-patient relationships, has permeated society and tendencies derived from medical practice such as medicalization, pharmaceuticalization, and technologicalization of health and life, have emerged. These changes have involved the development of society and the advancement of various fields of knowledge that permeate and modify medical practice. All of these changes are designed to improve the quality of healthcare services. Due to such changes in the doctor-patient relationship and in the practice of medical profession, new questions regarding economic, legal, ethical, epistemological, and ontological ordering have been raised and must be analyzed from different points of view to ensure that the objectives of medical practice are not deviated from an aim to support the welfare of individuals and society. These topics are analyzed in this paper and it is suggested to include this discussion in graduate and undergraduate medical education.

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References

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