Women`s Health Care

Women 's Health Care

2007

The aim of this is to explore how four articles (Broom , 1998 Consumer Reports on Health , 2001 Spallone , 1994 and Women as Health Care Providers ) discuss women 's health . This subject is vast and as such the focus of this will be on one factor that may possibly hinder the development of good and appropriate health care for women and two factors that may improve women 's access to good and appropriate health care services . It must be noted , however , that this essay will talk about

a relationship positioned within Western culture as a set of polar opposites : the patient and the Doctor . I am not suggesting that the relationship should be hierarchical or that this relationship suggests the lack of women 's autonomy and ownership over their knowledge and bodies but that these suffixes are a useful tool in exploring the issues central to this . The does not allow for an in-depth discussion around this issue to take place

Women 's role within health care has historically been seen as that of nurse rather than patient (those looking after soldiers of war for example Florence Nightingale . In more contemporary understandings of women 's role within the health care sector we can see that women have gone on to provide other services , although still segregated by the glass wall , such as midwifery and nurse practitioners (Women of Health Care Providers and Consumers 7 . Recent literature , however , explores women within health care not as providers but as users , patients consumers and clients of the system (Broom Consumer Reports on Health Spallone and Women of Health Care Providers and Consumers

The main factor , prevalent in the literature that may hinder a women 's access to good and appropriate health care is that of the intimate relationship between doctor and patient . Initially Doctor 's may sometimes be male which may prevent female patients from talking to them about issues that are sensitive and often embarrassing (Consumer Reports on Health 8 . Spallone also explores the fact that this may be difficult due to the fact that men will not have the same experience of IVF as women do so it is therefore essentially problematic to talk to a man about these issues

From this discussion , and the articles explored , we can see that there may be two main factors that could improve women 's access to good and appropriate health care . The first of these factors is communication The communication between services , as well as between the patient and the doctor should facilitate the emergence of a negotiated health care plan . Doctors , however , often have a long list of medical questions which can bombard and overwhelm the patients instead of providing a safe and supportive environment within which to air their concerns (Consumer Reports on Health 8 . Alongside the key skills of communication needs to be the key skill of listening . Listening , within this context , can be interpreted to mean what the patient has to say for she knows her own body better than the physician (whom , regardless of gender , is an outsider of the feelings and possibly pain her body is expressing Women are therefore central to the development of their own health care (Broom (throughout but especially page 12 . This communication may be further improved by providing more women Doctors , as explored in the Women 's Health Centre 's in the Work of Dorothy Broom

Secondly , the other main factor that could improve women 's access to good and appropriate health care is based in a tradition of theory , as well as practice . The medical model of health has long been seen as the focal point of health services . Recently , however , a social model has been developed by theorists who saw that the medical model was not enough and indeed inappropriate in some cases . The social model was therefore developed which stipulated the impact and place of social issues such as economic welfare , the social environment and a person 's relationships with others (but to name a few , on the impact of a person 's health . Health services would be much more accessible to women if a social model was adapted which sought to understand the wider issues surrounding their health problems (Broom Women as Health Care Providers and Consumers 10 - 11

In conclusion , although this essay has been somewhat constrained due to space constraints , there has been enough space to outline the three main issues (1 ) the `intiamte ' relationship between the patient and the doctor can hinder the provision women may receive from health care professionals and institutions (2 ) communication between Doctors and patients , as well as between services can help facilitate the gap between `us ' and `them ' and (3 ) services and practitioners need to embrace the social model of health as the medical model (often criticized for being a predominantly male theory that reduces the body to DNA and genes ) is not sufficient enough for any patient embracing health care but especially not women (as explored in many of the texts central to the second wave of feminism

Bibliography

Broom , D (1998 ) `By women , for women : The continuing appeal of women 's health centres , cited in Australian Women 's Health . Vol . 28 (1 : 5 - 28

Consumer Reports on Health (2001 ) `Doctor , can we talk , cited in Consumer Reports on Health

Spallone ,

(1994 ) ` Reproductive health and reproductive technology cited in Wilkinson , S and Kitzinger , C (eds ) Women and Health Feminist Perspectives . London : Taylor and Francis

Women as Health Care Providers and Consumers . Unit 2 , Part II - III : 6 - 13

Women 's Health Care

PAGE

PAGE 5 ...