Professionalism and consumerism: can they grow together?

Abstract

Under rising, worldwide trends of cost containment and consumerism, traditional professional dominance in health care may, in some part, be disappearing or being rejected. There are even people who may question whether this professionalism is really necessary for society. These trends, linked with the advance of information technology, are eroding those aspects of the medical profession that may not be necessary for the social good, and have clearly exposed those aspects that are really needed by society. I will now discuss the circumstantial changes in professional dominance in health care, and how some functions of the profession have the potential to be reinforced. In this cost-conscious era of highly-developed technology, information is the key to these changes.