Medical Consumerism and Health Care - Essay Example

The aim of this paper is to explain how the trends to growing medical consumerism are linked to broader changes in the societal politics and culture, and how this is affecting health care. Medical consumerism refers to the process whereby people (consumers) get access to medical services at healthcare facilities or medical centers. Studies have shown that trends to growing medical consumerism are linked to broader changes in the societal politics and culture, which has, in turn, had an impact on health care. People have different views when it comes to services offered by health care facilities, views which have an impact on the output of these health care facilities. The wellbeing of people matters most to them and whenever something comes on the way to interfere with a persons wellbeing, then that thing has to be done away with immediately. Making a working environment of a workplace to be more homely maybe through family photographs, plants, or other markers of personal identity is essential as these activities often seek to soften what the working environment serves, to reduce on distinctions that exist between public and private sectors.

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Emphasis on the wellbeing of workers at workplaces has made the workers assert their identities as employees and ultimately making them demand for their personhood to be recognized at levels beyond their status as workers. Discourses of wellbeing have had numerous positive impacts on medical consumerism in that the discourses have led to an understanding of the essence of self-responsibility and a sense of interdependence (Sointu, 2005). Any propaganda that comes up contrary to the requirements of the medical consumers creates an urge among the consumers for them to ensure that their wellbeing standards are restored back to normal. A slight change in the medical industry can lead to gross actions of its consumers which will later have an impact on the medical industry. Any person working under the supervision of someone, for instance, an employer, always wants to feel a sense of belonging and ownership. When workers in a certain working area realize that their statuses are being upheld, then they will be readily willing to offer their best services to their consumers without fussing.

According to Parry, branding refers solely to the ownership of ideas: offering customers with new ways for them to think about things, and in the process of pursuing this, the values of this experience are transferred to a commodity or situation (Parry, 2003). Typically, whenever marketers talk about branding, then, what follows is the production of a product that has new features in the market so that the product can help customers differentiate it from what competitors are offering as a supplement of the product. Ultimately, in the pharmaceutical industry when marketing professionals talk about branding then what comes aftermath is the production of a new way or drug that can be used for treatment of a disease. Condition branding in the pharmaceutical industry is a relatively simple idea in that as long as someone can be able to define a certain condition together with its associated symptoms in patients and physicians minds, then it is easy for the person to predicate the most probable way of treating the condition.

Condition branding has been extensively applied and its seeds have been sown broadly in complex audiences landscape ranging from pharmaceutical companies, support groups, consumers and external thought leaders. Appropriate condition branding has numerous advantages, primarily which is the creation of consensus both internally and externally. This consensus aims at keeping brand managers and the entire clinical community focused on one story that is structured like lock-and-key problem or solution. Internally, condition branding fosters momentum and motivation which leads to maximization of the product investment which occurs by introducing marketing efforts which are comprehensive during the early stages of the process. On the other hand, when the consensus is created externally, the value of company-sponsored activity helps in forging better relationships with thought leaders seeking to shape the debate around therapeutic approaches, and with members of the clinical community who are always interested in mentoring patients on new perspectives in treatment.

Pharmaceutical companies should observe the code of conduct of their salespersons before sending them to the market to conduct sales of pharmaceutical products (Oldani, 2004). When salespersons of pharmaceutical companies lack interpersonal skills then there is a high probability of the existence of a bad correlation between the medical consumers and the salespersons which will reduce the sales of the pharmaceutical product. The government has a big role to play in making sure that the medical industry is not influenced by inconsistencies in supply of medical products as well as money supply to the industry; failure in accomplishing this will lead to boycotts by both the medical practitioners and the members of the community. Investing in the supply of medical products that are of high quality will also attract consumers in using the products thus boosting the countrys economy rather than them moving out to look for the products in other countries.

Frank tries to compare the urge for maintenance of beauty to the availability of medical consumerism. Societal demands in marketing cosmetic beauty products entail upholding a communitys culture which when transcended on, then, the community will have to do away with the products. An abstract that is ideal of medicine may not be threatened, though Bauman (2000: 106) notes, at a time when the idea of the common good [has been] branded suspect, threatening nebulous, or addle-brained, consumerism does erode the ideal that medicine can be one such common good (Frank, 2002). Surgeries that are conducted with regards to the beauty of an individual have to be efficient not to trigger bad reputation of a medical firm in the nearing future. Apparently, the rate of medical consumerism is directly related to the type of support given to the consumers. Not paying attention to the type of support under which the consumers are required to get access to drives them away.

Religious beliefs are also linked to the accessibility of medical services as some beliefs do not compromise the use of certain practices meant to treat patients. The evolution of technology has made life easier to some extent but still as much as people try to adapt to the augmenting changes in the medical industry, there still occurs a prevailing existence of conservatives who do not believe in what the society views as revolutionized medical services. This therefore remains a cultural and religious barrier to people who try to go against what the society sets as conditions for them. Alienation of individuals later takes course and the health care remains stumbled on. Upholding on social interaction can help do away with the inconvenience of social barriers in the society which will therefore improve on health care. When the society holds something against the medical industry, then the health care will be adversely affected derailing its coexistence.

References

Frank, A.W., 2002. Whats wrong with medical consumerism. Consuming health: The commodification of health care, pp.13-30.

Medical Consumerism Questions. docx [Material]

Oldani, M.J., 2004. Thick prescriptions: toward an interpretation of pharmaceutical sales practices. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 18(3), pp.325-356.

Parry, V., 2003. The art of branding a condition. Med Mark Media, 38(5), pp.43-49.

Sointu, E., 2005. The rise of an ideal: tracing changing discourses of wellbeing. The Sociological Review, 53(2), pp.255-274.