Consumer-directed health plans will result in a more responsive and sustainable health care system in which patients will take more responsibility for management of their chronic conditions.
The trend toward casual address and dress in the medical profession could reinforce the power differential that already exists between patient and physician and adversely affect the patient-physician relationship.
A U.S. physician relates the culture shock he is experiencing working as an area medical officer in Eastern Africa for the U.S. Peace Corps in his latest online journal entry.