THE EMERGENCE OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION

Introduction

American physician in the 19^th century exhibited little status because they needed intense training.  Their wages significantly varied and were tasked with the responsibility of taking care of the socio-economically disadvantaged in the society as well as those who offered services to the wealthy class. The leading physicians were known as the orthodox or conventional and were limited to experimental science and natural philosophy.^[1] Their remedies were very extreme and included high levels of mercury, bleeding, and other methods that are currently considered lethal. The second sects of physicians were known as homeopaths. According to this sect point of view, only drugs could cure diseases. However, the drugs were administered in small doses and believed that greater effect was realized by diluting the dose. Homeopaths emphasized on research and individual attention, hence the need for scientific testing. The last group was labeled as the electics and they mixed homeopaths herbal medicine practices with conventional approaches of the orthodox medicine.  Electics did not advocate for orthodox practices and were political reformers.^[2] The three types of physicians wanted greater authority, higher salaries, more status, and credentialing. However, they fought each other to realize all these attributes. Nonetheless, in collaboration, they established the American Medical Association. Through this organization, they addressed a wide range of issues including the extent of medical practice, medical qualifications, the establishment and distribution of medical science, and the monopoly of medical jurisdiction.

Factors That Defines a Proper Physician

Physicians exhibit the privilege of changing and touching the lives of patients. Therefore, a proper physician must synthesize incomplete and conflicting information to make proper diagnosis, handle uncertainty, and manage risks.^[3] Besides, a proper physician must respect all patients regardless their ethnic or socioeconomic background, promote health and wellness including embracing the power of communication and information technologies. Likewise, a proper physician must involve patients in the decision- making process, to be precise regarding their healthcare and health as well as provide unbiased advice. According to,^[4] a proper physician must collaborate with other healthcare professionals with the primary objective of enhancing the quality of care provided to patients. A proper physician should also treat patient’s families, patients, and colleagues with consideration and respect. They should also possess compassion or kindness and work towards eliminating distress and pain. A proper physician should not channel much of his time taking care of the sick rather understand how to balance work and family life. Therefore, a decent doctor should have attributes such as competent, caring, healthy, and happy.

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How Medical Professionals Select Certain Qualities to Make a Good Physician

To check quality that makes a good physician, medical professionals must identify doctors who are rated to provide care, exhibit the background and training that meet patient needs and applies the necessary approaches such as smoking cessation to prevent illness. Additionally, the physician must treat patients and colleagues with respect. Some of the qualities that characterize a good physician are as explained below:

Empathy

According to existing research, patients who are satisfied with the quality of care provided are those who think that they have an empathetic connection with their doctors. However, for patients whose relationship with their doctor is poor, their suffering is prolonged. For this reason, empathy as a quality is powerful in enhancing patient-physician relationship.

Professionalism

Professionalism entails keeping patient’s information confidential and it forms the basis of medical ethics. Good physicians are expected to maintain a safe distance with their patients. Maintaining a professional distance provides patients with an opportunity to disclose essential information. Another aspect of professionalism is fairness and respect. A good physician must be in a position to handle all patients equally regardless their conduct, lifestyle choices, and ethnicity among others. Other traits that a good physician should possess include being industrious, being composed, very attentive, and forward thinking. It is the responsibility of a good physician to keep themselves up to date with innovative research, new findings, and emerging theories in their respective fields.

How Did (And How Do) Patients Make Their Healthcare Choices among A Variety of Options?

In the 19^th century, patients did not have the opportunity to take part in their care because healthcare was not patient-centered rather physician centered. However, in the current healthcare system, patients are involved in the decision making process. For instance, they are responsible for choosing their medical procedures, doctors, and insurers.^[5] However, patients’ decisions are influenced by various factors including the benefits and costs of the treatment method as well as other contextual issues that trigger emotional and intuitive decision-making process. Nonetheless, patients are required to make significant health decisions that determine the quality of healthcare they receive.  For this reason, there is a need to put in place a patient engagement and education program to enhance their decision-making process.

Overview of Some Of The Key Issues That Drove the Early Reform Of The Healthcare System?

The need for universal healthcare is the reason behind the early reforms in the healthcare system.  According to^[6] the industrial America in the commencement of 20^th century faced the challenge of sickness rendering the population unproductive. Due to sickness, a majority of the population lost their income and became poor. As a result, the progressive reformers in 1915 proposed to have a compulsory health insurance system to safeguard workers against medical costs and wage loss during sickness. Ideally, early reforms in the healthcare system were driven by increasing cost and effectiveness of Medicare.

Conclusion

The current healthcare system in the United States is characterized by various challenges including discontent and workforce shortages, inability to address the expanding consumerism among patients, slow technological adoption, and poor accommodation of the needs of the patients. As a result of these challenges, it has become increasingly difficult for the educational sector to meet the needs of the delivery system. Managers and leaders of healthcare practices, health plans, and hospitals claim that the deficit in various skills including system perspective, supervision skills, delegation, management, communication, critical thinking, computer and technical skills are the reason behind the declining quality of care. For this reason, the essay topic central challenge which is to provide universal healthcare relates to the current issues that ails the United Healthcare system. Despite the fact that the country has implemented the Affordable Care Act with the primary objective of providing universal coverage, the outcomes are opposite. In fact, the Act has increased healthcare costs. However, the Act has provided the population with a wide range of provisions including public insurance coverage including Medicare and Medicaid and private insurance coverage expansion.