The World of Virtual Medicine: the Development of Cyber Support Groups
This entry is part of a research project for Cultural Interfaces and Cross-Cultural Rhetoric at Stanford University. For more about this assignment and the class projects, click here.
Imagine yourself going to school full-time, participating in extracurricular activities, and working at the retail store right off campus. One morning, you wake up with a hacking cough, sharp pains in your chest when you take a breath, and a slight headache. You have two midterms to study for, a term paper to write and you have rehearsals for a musical that opens the following weekend. The last thing you have time for is to go to the doctor’s office. So you turn on your computer and log on to the World of Virtual Medicine.
The world of virtual medicine consists of hundreds of websites that allow visitors to learn more about illness and diseases, from experts and people who have first-hand experiences. There are three main types of forums: 1) forums that non-experts can post and comment; 2) forums where site visitors describe symptoms and a certified doctor respond with more information; and 3) a more interactive correspondence where the doctor and the patient uses a webcam and microphone to talk to each other. Though the third type of medical forum is rare, the first two are widely used.
Medical anthropologists discourage the use of online medical forums because they think that virtual medicine creates a divide between the doctor and the patient and deemphasizes the patient-doctor relationship to an impersonal level. They believe that symptoms and diagnosis enables the doctor to categorize the patients, but in doing so, it distances the doctor from the patient and eliminates any social or cultural background that may be important to treatment (Baron 607).
When I first began to research this topic, I approached it with an anthropologist’s point of view. However, upon further exploration, I saw that these websites create a community for support and help and they allow people to find others who are going through the same problems. They can offer insight, information, and sympathy to each other.
I am currently researching the effects of such support groups, as well as interviewing those who choose to participate in the medical forums for first-hand accounts. My goal is to understand the culture and appeal of the world on virtual medicine and how it affects the community.
Comments
I always wanted a job in a clinic so I studied to be a medical assistant and now I am working happily at a clinic :)
Posted by: Medical Assistant Jobs | August 21, 2009 07:10 AM