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Remaking the American patient : how Madison Avenue and modern medicine turned patients into consumers / Nancy Tomes.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Studies in social medicinePublisher: Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, [2016]Copyright date: ©2016Description: xviii, 538 pages : illustrations ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781469622774
  • 1469622777
Subject(s):
Contents:
Introduction: This isn't your father's patient -- Farewell to the free trade in doctoring -- The high cost of keeping alive -- The new corner store -- The guinea pigs' revolt -- The fourth necessity -- The MDs are off their pedestal -- A big pill to swallow -- The patient must prescribe for the doctor -- Get ready for a new breed of patients -- Shopping mall medicine -- Medicine-chest roulette -- Conclusion: The barbarians are at the gate.
Summary: "In a work that spans the twentieth century, Nancy Tomes questions the popular -- and largely unexamined -- idea that in order to get good health care, people must learn to shop for it. This book explores the consequences of the consumer economy and American medicine having come of age at exactly the same time. Tracing the robust development of advertising, marketing, and public relations within the medical profession and the vast realm we now think of as "health care," Tomes considers what it means to be a "good" patient. As she shows, this history of the co-evolution of medicine and consumer culture tells us much about our current predicament over health care in the United States. Understanding where the shopping model came from, why it was so long resisted in medicine, and why it finally triumphed in the late twentieth century helps explain why, despite striking changes that seem to empower patients, so many Americans remain unhappy and confused about their status as patients today."--Book jacket.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 368.382 T656 Available 33111008525475
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In a work that spans the twentieth century, Nancy Tomes questions the popular--and largely unexamined--idea that in order to get good health care, people must learn to shop for it. Remaking the American Patient explores the consequences of the consumer economy and American medicine having come of age at exactly the same time. Tracing the robust development of advertising, marketing, and public relations within the medical profession and the vast realm we now think of as "health care," Tomes considers what it means to be a "good" patient. As she shows, this history of the coevolution of medicine and consumer culture tells us much about our current predicament over health care in the United States. Understanding where the shopping model came from, why it was so long resisted in medicine, and why it finally triumphed in the late twentieth century helps explain why, despite striking changes that seem to empower patients, so many Americans remain unhappy and confused about their status as patients today.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 473-518) and index.

Introduction: This isn't your father's patient -- Farewell to the free trade in doctoring -- The high cost of keeping alive -- The new corner store -- The guinea pigs' revolt -- The fourth necessity -- The MDs are off their pedestal -- A big pill to swallow -- The patient must prescribe for the doctor -- Get ready for a new breed of patients -- Shopping mall medicine -- Medicine-chest roulette -- Conclusion: The barbarians are at the gate.

"In a work that spans the twentieth century, Nancy Tomes questions the popular -- and largely unexamined -- idea that in order to get good health care, people must learn to shop for it. This book explores the consequences of the consumer economy and American medicine having come of age at exactly the same time. Tracing the robust development of advertising, marketing, and public relations within the medical profession and the vast realm we now think of as "health care," Tomes considers what it means to be a "good" patient. As she shows, this history of the co-evolution of medicine and consumer culture tells us much about our current predicament over health care in the United States. Understanding where the shopping model came from, why it was so long resisted in medicine, and why it finally triumphed in the late twentieth century helps explain why, despite striking changes that seem to empower patients, so many Americans remain unhappy and confused about their status as patients today."--Book jacket.

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