Sociology Essay: Medical Knowledge, Health, and Consumerism

This essay delves into the sociology of health and illness, exploring the multifaceted role of medical knowledge as a form of power and its influence on individuals' lives. It examines how medical knowledge empowers individuals to make informed decisions about their health, including preventive care and access to healthcare services. The essay critically assesses the transformation of patients into consumers within contemporary Western societies, highlighting the impact of digital technology and electronic health services. It analyzes how these advancements have reshaped the healthcare landscape, creating a consumer-driven environment where patients actively seek and consume health services. The essay also discusses the implications of this shift, exploring the dynamics of the healthcare market and the evolving relationship between patients and healthcare providers, concluding that medical knowledge has the potential to control and influence the lives of its recipients.

Sociology of health and
illnesses

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Medical knowledge is a form of power, with the potential to control and influence the lives of
its recipients................................................................................................................................3
Focusing on health, critically assess the transformation of patients into consumers in
contemporary Western societies.................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Medical knowledge refers to the information about pathogenesis diseases and
mechanisms which also includes therapies and interaction along with the interpretation of lab
tests which provide the information related to patient help. This relates to the understanding of
involving biomedical and established chemical clinical epidemiological and social-behavioral
sciences. This provides the ability that can apply within patient care for enthusiastic transfer of
knowledge. Nowadays in western society, there is which focuses on the transformation of a
patient into a consumer by providing different health services and health commission-related
information to be sent as a consumer that is provided by their high health. In this essay, there is
an introduction about medical knowledge which is a form of power that can have the potential to
control and influence the life of recipients. There is also discussion about focusing on health and
critical access along with the transformation of the patient into a consumer in society (Belfiore,
(2020)).
MAIN BODY
Medical knowledge is a form of power, with the potential to control and influence the lives of its
recipients
Medical knowledge refers to an important tool we should have the power. To provide
information related to health care. This can have an impact on making decisions related to patient
and health concerns. Medical knowledge has the efficiency to take control regarding health. Any
patient, who has the knowledge related to information and the control related with preventive
care which is generally used during different life stages. This leads people to make decisions
accordingly. Medical knowledge gives the ability to any person about to taking care of their
health. This can allow them to get the efficient and necessary medical concerns that can be
needed to improve their health and well-being. Medical knowledge has a high efficiency which
can lead to control the health. Medical knowledge also has the potential to influence the life of
the recipient which is by providing better information and knowledge regarding the prevention of
diseases. This could lead to an increasingly high level of prevention through different diseases
that should not be allowed in recipients and create any negative impact on their health.
According to Nazarian, (2017), medical knowledge is most important for processing
standard life. This can help an individual to take care of themselves and their belongings. That

code relates to confirming their ability and effectiveness regarding healthcare. This is highly
efficient and has the potential to influence the lives of the recipient by using different protective
measures which should be taken to prevent a different kind of diseases and infection. This
created a high level of prevention measurement that could have applied by the recipient to
transform their life to words better health and well-being. Having medical information always
leads to create real-time medical information for delivering better health advantages that provide
better health in comparison to people who don't have medical knowledge. Medical knowledge
should be basic information that every person needs to have in their prospective life. This could
create high effectiveness and increase the standard of living when any people don't reach to
physician or doctor. Then the person with medical knowledge can have the ability to provide
themself better intervention and provide time to improve their health which creates a high impact
on health and lead to create a better standard of life. In today's world, when everything is fast and
people don't have much time to get a visit to their doctor at a time or people get missed their
appointment. Purewal, (2017), stated that Patient appointments with a physician can be
a chance of using their medical knowledge which can help them to get access to their primary
care and medication. This can allow them for improvement and relief from the present situation.
This could provide them improvement and lead situation till they could get able to meet their
physician for better treatment. This medical knowledge has a high benefit that can be associated
with providing primary care to another person. In emergency cases, when there is non-ability of
physician or doctor at that time and any person needs instant medical care. The person with
medical knowledge can provide them basic primary care that could help them to stay alive till
they can lead to healthcare access for better treatment. Medical knowledge refers to the power or
it can say that it is a form of power which is highly having the potential to control and influence
the lives of the patient by providing different formation related to their healthcare function and
can relate to making them behave accordingly. This could lead to influence them to control their
work performance and behavior towards better health which is controlled by medical knowledge.
It is highly conditioned that medical knowledge can make people act accordingly this can
provide better health impact on their life progress for attaining and grasping better health for
spending standard living.

Focusing on health, critically assess the transformation of patients into consumers in
contemporary Western societies
According to Boots, (2018), in this modern technology, there is the transformation of the
patient into the consumer in contemporary western society. This is the one who can get access to
healthcare by staying at their home and to get access to healthcare services on the internet. This
leads to dependency and transformation of the patient into a consumer. In this modern time,
patients like to get healthcare services to get in a limited period. This includes high
responsiveness and likes to receive instant healthcare access. This lead to creating electronic
help. This is the one in which people can get to the health services directly by contacting some
number that can provide direct access to health care services within few seconds and leads to the
transformation of the patient into a consumer. Modern time is fast and people don't have much
time to wait for a long period to get the appointment and stay in the queue for their turn for
access to healthcare services for improvement in their health. Due to digital technology and
innovation in technology created direct access to the healthcare services by just responding to
some contact number to get instant health care services. Health refers to cost-effective practices
which provide secure use of information and communication technology for providing support of
health which is related to health care and health education in the field of knowledge and
research.
Digital healthcare involvement can provide more insight into health that can share all
data related with a medical history that can help to provide better information whenever any
people as a patient went for this services. This lead to making the patient a customer in the
contemporary time. This works just like a deal between consumer and service provider (Anthony
(2021)). This is done by using an application based on software and management of services that
can transmit and storing of records for delivering healthcare treatment. This is also able to
typically use the internet for transmitting and storing patient information. By using this
technology, people can get instant health care services and transform themselves as a consumer
rather than the patient. By using electronic health care services lead to creating a business deal
where there is a deal between the service provider and consumer. In relation to providing the
health services, there should consumer treated as a present but due to using latest technology and
software and due to using healthcare services this lead to creating some sort of business which
makes patient as a consumer and worked as some business (Boyle, (2019)). Healthcare services a

generally used by the internet services and able to create the contemporary transformation of
present into consumer where patient want health care services in return for some investment that
is payment. This creates a deal between exchange of credit for receiving healthcare information
which can able to provide better impact on improvement in patients health. This business deal
treats the patient as a consumer, where the consumer came for specific information in exchange
for credit. This temporary transformation is due to innovation in technology and people don't
have time to go to their Healthcare service provider for receiving the same type of information
which is generally provided by electronic health. Many Healthcare professionals have also joined
the electronic health or providing better information and related health care services for
delivering their patient as a consumer. This lead to creating a new structure of healthcare service
delivery that is there on the patient or consumer's fingertip. This makes patients contemporary
consumers for consuming the healthcare services (Yao, (2020)).
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that medical knowledge is a form of
power that can be used to influence the life of the recipient accordingly. This creates a total
transformation in the living standard of life to help. People like to get electronic health
information that can help them better improvement in their health. This led to creating
transformation of the patient into consumer and contemporary western societies.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Anthony (2021). Integrating telemedicine to support digital health care for the management of
COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Healthcare Management, 1-10.
Belfiore, (2020). Whose cultural value? Representation, power and creative
industries. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 26(3), 383-397.
Boots, (2018). Effectiveness of a blended care self-management program for caregivers of
people with early-stage dementia (partner in balance): randomized controlled
trial. Journal of medical Internet research, 20(7), e10017.
Boyle, (2019). The making and sustaining of leaders in health care. Journal of health
organization and management.
Nazarian, (2017). Safety of magnetic resonance imaging in patients with cardiac devices. New
England Journal of Medicine, 377(26), 2555-2564.
Purewal, (2017). Companion animals and child/adolescent development: a systematic review of
the evidence. International journal of environmental research and public health, 14(3),
234.
Yao, (2020). Integrating traditional Chinese medicines into professional community pharmacy
practice in China–Key stakeholder perspectives. European journal of integrative
medicine, 34, 101063.