In the article “Against Global Health?” by Vincanne Adams, the author explores the processes by which the notion of “health” in Global Health Sciences holds a tyrannical relationship to problems within the actual practices of global health (40). This article included details about international health in colonial and post colonial era. In the colonial era, international “health” was against traditional beliefs or non science. Adams points out that “political causes of disease are as important as microbial ones, but social science is still not ‘science’ in the same way as that word is used in the term “health sciences” (45). Meaning that anything that is related to “science” is only related to health and excludes anything associated with social sciences. Historically, “health” has been directly attached to the meaning of science which makes it inevitable to separate the two words. Therefore, we might anticipate in the long run of categorizing and discriminating people because of this fixed definition of science as only being associated to health rather than including social ties to the definition of "health sciences".
One research that measured competence and caring levels was mentioned in “Learning Medicine” by Byron Good and Mary-Jo Good. They focused on “how medical knowledge and the world of medicine is constituted from the perspective of those learning medicine” (83). Their research explored how medical knowledge is shaped and changed throughout medical school. They interviewed twenty-four students at Harvard Medical School
Both the Adams and Good articles explore the common struggle in the medical field of understanding health in different paradigms because it changes a lot. Good examines how medical students may find themselves struggling to fit into this ideal “professional”. It takes a lot of experience and time to becoming a doctor because there is a range of people who are very diverse and have different needs. There isn’t a standard type of doctor because everyone is different. In the case of the Tibetan doctor, their experience of finding a solution may be beneficial and competent because the patient showed results. However, it may be viewed as careless because the patient died.
In general, doctors need to find a balance of competence and caring characteristics because the role of a doctor has very high expectations and pressure by patients to solve their health dilemma. It would be helpful to self-reflect about the opportunities and recognize that these experiences build more knowledge and skills in improving what to do the next time in a similar situation. For example, the Tibetan doctor, measured health as being located in a specific organ rather than the entire body. Therefore, if a patient showed similar results as the patient who had this type of cancer then doctors will be more familiar and prepared.
The first cartoon above relates to these articles because it illustrates a comical view of a rare event in a hospital where a doctor really has "no freaking idea". This cartoon is very humorous because even if a doctor doesn’t know the root cause then they can just make something up easily by backing their explanation using scientific language. The fact that there is no “truth” to the real cause of a disease or illness can create stereotypes because people expect doctors to know everything; therefore, they should have the answer. However, in reality that is not the case because there is no “truth” to the cause, only scientific evidence. As a result, this cartoon depicts a less caring doctor rather than a caring type.
The second image relates to the articles because it illustrates another stereotype about doctors as being less competent. The quote at the bottom “So, you’d like a second opinion…” is very interesting because it depicts another stereotype about doctors as being less dependable for answers. In the photo, the doctor considers using a dart board to represents other possible solutions to a patient’s problem due to “chance” and not by any other solutions or explanations. For instance, the dart board only provides explanations related to scientific diagnosis (Cancer, TB, AIDS) rather than open up to cultural or historical explanations (colonialism, slavery, education).
In conclusion, the understanding of “health” brings many new challenges in the medical field. This contributes to the difficult process that all medical students go through to becoming doctors. There are many things to consider which may explain why “student express fears that they will not be able to balance these two goals (competence and caring), that they may be a “zero sum,” that in their struggle to achieve competence they may lose caring qualities that led them to study medicine” (Good 93). Both articles and images associate to understanding the process that doctors go through in medical school and understanding how they use that knowledge into practical use. In addition to, it also highlights how we continue to view health as being a separate discipline without social ties.
