medical sociology blog

[rayyanspeaks]

week of 4/29 (alternative medicine)

This week, our class discussions focused on the emergence of alternative medicine, and the pros and cons of their use. To start, the extent of alternative medicine is way more broad than I imagined, as it includes practices & remedies such like yoga, going to the chiropractor, acupuncture, drinking tea, and the use of marijuana. The use of this practices aren’t the most credible, as there is a lack of evidence and studies backing these. For example with marijuana, there are political obstacles like being classified as a class 1 drug and being illegal in many states that prevent proper, conclusive studies of potential benefits or harms from being carried out. Besides that, a good number of doctors wouldn’t offer alternative options, even if certain healthcare policies allowed for it, due to being skeptical on its effectiveness and ethicality compared to traditional medicine. For me, I see some practices of alternative medicine as beneficial and some I’m very doubtful on. For instance, throughout the pandemic there has been “remedies” for preventing COVID that people have come up with on the internet and through social media that consist of making the most weird drinks, mixing together random ingredients that shouldn’t be made into a drink at all. The viewpoints of the doctors that are skeptical of alternative medicine might foster a negative environment for the patients as they could become reluctant in telling the physician whether or not they are using alternative practices for their illness/injury, which can potentially be harmful for them if they take a doctor prescribed medicine that interferes with what they have already been taking. I also find it interesting how some practices were tied to early racism such as marijuana with Mexicans and some herbal practices with Native Americans. SES can also influence how much control a patient has in looking into alternative medicine and the confidence in the options they have in doing so. As I read about different stories of how alternative medicine has helped cure certain illnesses and injuries for different people, there’s a “wow!!” moment in my head but I also like to think that these practices tend to have different effects on people because not all of us have the exact same responses to substances and treatments. 

[rayyanspeaks]

week of 4/15 (medicine and health care as a social institution)

This week, our discussion focused on the institution of healthcare itself, including the development of the modern hospital and morality in the ICU. While I was reading the section and listening to the discussion, my thoughts were on how crazy it was that capitalism had such a huge impact in the development of the modern hospital. Antebellum hospitals went from a system of bartering and caring for the extremely poor to one that incorporates money transactions for people that could afford the increasing costs of treatment. Of course technological advances and increasing knowledge from professionals also played a role in the rise of the modern hospital, but capitalism had an equal role in changing attitudes of people to shift from their homes to the hospital. Another aspect I found interesting was the transition from the dominance from a mostly wealthy, white male staff to a more diversified staff of both sexes and different races. People like my mother, aunts, or grandparents who had been or currently are physicians wouldn’t have had a chance at their professions in early hospitals in 19th century America due to the lack of diversity and specialization. In the discussion about the ICU, I found it shocking that doctors don’t ask for a patient’s medical history as it makes it seems like the patient is an object to them in a dehumanizing way. I feel like the negative characterizations that ICU doctors and nurses give to patients definitely affect the quality of care they receive in ways that can be detrimental to their well-being. Maybe they don’t want to get too attached to patients in case they lose their lives but shouldn’t be not too distant in the sense that they are indifferent to their suffering. As someone who has had family in the ICU, I feel the pain that other feel when they see their loved ones not being treated well by doctors and nurses. However, this isn’t always the case as I’ve heard of small acts of kindness by some nurses and doctors such as tying a bow in the hair of an elderly women and putting up pictures on the wall to make the patient feel more at home.

[rayyanspeaks]

week of 2/11 (unequal social distribution of disease)

This week, our discussions focused on the topic of how disease is unequally distributed based on race, sex, and socioeconomic status. Prior to class, I watched a documentary called “Unnatural Causes”. Dr. Adewale Troutman visits council districts of different SES in Louisville, and as he goes from districts of higher SES to districts of lowers SES, the average life expectancy decreases by a concerning amount. The health of the people being interviewed deteriorates while disparities increase as he travels from high to low SES districts, which supports the Theory of Fundamental Causes. Other causes of health disparities that I witnessed included stress as a consequence of racism which contributes to increased cortisol levels and a diminished self efficacy. This also led to risk taking behaviors such as smoking and drinking. I also noticed how the sick role was impacted by racial discrimination and stereotypes in seeking care by increased pain tolerance and drug seeking, if they could even afford to accomplish that sick role by taking time away from their jobs or simply afford the treatment/care. The documentary definitely enhanced my perspective on how disease affects people across different levels of SES. Spending most of my life in areas of relatively high SES, I always had access to higher standards of healthcare but had some understanding of how those of lower SES were affected by lower standards of living/healthcare from spending summers in Pakistan. However, getting personal insight from people living in America on how their health are affected by racism, living standards, and healthcare access is something that I can expand my knowledge with. My reading discussed the inequalities of health between sexes in that men tend to die quicker and women get sicker. It makes sense because men partake in more risk taking behaviors and jobs than woman do. There are many stereotypes for both sexes that affect the sick role, resulting in men visiting the doctor less than they should, and therefore having a shorter life expectancy than women. I also feel that mental health isn’t treated equally between men and women especially due to stereotypes that are portrayed of men. I can guarantee most men wouldn’t think that someone saying to them to “man up” would ease any of their mental uneasiness or stress as some of society believes. I believe that social interventions must take place if sociologists would like to improve health and our society overall, as someone stated in the discussion.

[rayyanspeaks]

week of 2/25 (social & physical environments)

This week, our discussions revolved around how different aspects of social and physical environments play into the mental and physical well-being of different people. Prior to the discussions, I watched an episode called “Recycling Sham”  from a documentary named “Broken”. In this episode, the notion that single-use plastic products aren’t as recyclable as people believe is investigated, in which lots of plastic waste ends up in landfills in SE Asia. China used to buy all the plastic scraps in the world for resell and recycling, until it became a pollution problem and they banned the import of plastic, so now Malaysia has taken on that role which has become a problem. More plastic is flowing into the country than recyclers can keep up with, and the emergence of illegal recycling operations which include dumping grounds and factories isn’t making the situation any better. Amidst all the activist efforts, the government can’t completely say no to plastics because they want to continue the industry. This really opened my eyes to the implications that incorrectly recycling and overusing plastics can have, especially in developing countries like Malaysia where the government isn’t as strong to maintain these practices. The documentary turns to America, specifically El Paso and Houston to display two different scenarios of pollution and how they effect different communities. In Houston, ExxonMobil has a 50 mile long waterway of gas and oil infrastructure that directly affects the communities around it, with pollution from chemicals and gas fumes being detrimental to the health of the majority already living in poverty. In El Paso, plastic bags were banned to try and limit the amount of litter around the city to improve the quality of health, but was quickly struck down by the state of Texas for economic reasons that are puzzling for me. These scenarios made me rethink what I can do to limit use of plastic (using reusable bags, using reusable water bottles). Our class discussion focused more on the social aspect, as my reading focused on asthma and how it is effected socially by socioeconomic status and inequality, but also physical aspects such as pollution like that we saw in Houston. I feel like segregation into lower income housing with higher instances of smoking, mold, and bugs plays a huge role into that, as activist groups focus on those types of community for advocacy and education. Another concept in the discussion that I really understood and could apply to my life was the impact of social relationships on mental health. For example, if you start to become distant with close friends or a relationship starts to go downhill, mental well-being starts to diminish as depression and anxiety increases.

[rayyanspeaks]

week of 4/22 (doctor patient relationships)

This week, we discussed the different interactions that occur between patients and practitioners. My reading focused on the social organization of illness, as it talked about the administrative structure of a typical healthcare facility following with an in depth description of three different patient-practitioner interactions. It was very intriguing to me, however I was able to build stronger connections to the discussion of the other two readings (infantilization & to listen, to recognize).  I volunteered in an assisted living facility during my junior year of high school and was able to witness different interactions between residents, workers, and volunteers. Particularly, quite a few interactions would be related to infantilization as most residents were dependent on workers & volunteers for daily functions such as taking medicine, food, and going from place to place, and we were told to be very gentle and friendly with them. I remember one day, we were playing a game that involved a foam dice, and we gave the dice to one of the resident. She proceeded to take a bite out of the dice and although I was initially shocked, I came to a better understanding of why some of the residents were spoken to as they were children. In the discussion of practitioners understanding the patients and trying to speak to them in terms that are comprehsenible for them, I can make a connection to shadowing my mom at her work. She always tries to explain diagnosis and gives advice to patients in ways that are most comprehendible for them, while also listening to their thoughts and perceptions on the situation. I learned from her that it’s important to understand the patient’s background to build a better relationship with them.