Thursday, November 20, 2008

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[IWS] ILR Press: WOMEN DOCTORS & the EVOLUTION of HEALTH CARE in AMERICA (THE CHANGING FACE OF MEDICINE) [November 2008]

IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016
-------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
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ILR Press (an imprint of Cornell University Press)

THE CHANGING FACE OF MEDICINE: Women Doctors and the Evolution of Health Care in America [November 2008]
Ann K. Boulis; Jerry A. Jacobs
http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/cup_detail.taf?ti_id=5252

$35.00s cloth
2008, 280 pages, 6 x 9, 12 tables, 28 charts/graphs
ISBN: 978-0-8014-4446-3  Quantity


The number of women practicing medicine in the United States has grown steadily since the late 1960s, with women now roughly at parity with men among entering medical students. Why did so many women enter American medicine? How are women faring, professionally and personally, once they become physicians? Are women transforming the way medicine is practiced? To answer these questions, The Changing Face of Medicine draws on a wide array of sources, including interviews with women physicians and surveys of medical students and practitioners. The analysis is set in the twin contexts of a rapidly evolving medical system and profound shifts in gender roles in American society.

Throughout the book, Ann K. Boulis and Jerry A. Jacobs critically examine common assumptions about women in medicine. For example, they find that women's entry into medicine has less to do with the decline in status of the profession and more to do with changes in women's roles in contemporary society. Women physicians' families are becoming more and more like those of other working women. Still, disparities in terms of specialty, practice ownership, academic rank, and leadership roles endure, and barriers to opportunity persist. Along the way, Boulis and Jacobs address a host of issues, among them dual-physician marriages, specialty choice, time spent with patients, altruism versus materialism, and how physicians combine work and family.

Women's presence in American medicine will continue to grow beyond the 50 percent mark, but the authors question whether this change by itself will make American medicine more caring and more patient centered. The future direction of the profession will depend on whether women doctors will lead the effort to chart a new course for health care delivery in the United States.

Reviews

"I have seen firsthand how one mother struggled with the delicate balance between work and family and now, more than three decades later, I can truly appreciate the obstacles she overcame. Today, I wonder if it will be any better for my two daughters. Ann K. Boulis and Jerry A. Jacobs have written a must-read for any woman considering the medical profession! It will also make men sit up and take notice."—Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent, CNN

'This well-conceived and soundly organized book makes an important contribution to our understanding of a range of gender aspects of the past, present and future of American medicine. It will be of interest to a wide audience, from social scientists and health policy makers to physicians, medical students, and other health professionals."–Mike Saks, University of Lincoln

"In The Changing Face of Medicine, Ann K. Boulis and Jerry A. Jacobs draw on a compelling mix of hard data and personal anecdote to provide a clear and comprehensive analysis of how women as physicians shape the practice of medicine, and in turn, how the practice of medicine shapes these women."—Katrina S. Firlik, MD, neurosurgeon and author of Another Day in the Frontal Lobe: A Brain Surgeon Exposes Life on the Inside

"Over the past quarter century medicine has experienced a gender revolution with the number of medical school entrants among young women now nearly equaling that of men. In this impressive and beautifully written book, Ann Boulis and Jerry Jacobs use both quantitative data and rich in-depth interviews to understand the cause of this transformation and to understand how women have changed the way medicine is practiced. As they document the pathways women pursue to become physicians, they challenge the conventional wisdom that gender differences in medicine result from choices of individual women and instead show how gendered institutions channel womenís specialty choices and type of practice. The Changing Face of Medicine is a marvelous contribution to gender studies and medical sociology."—Jill Quadagno, author of One Nation, Uninsured: Why the US Has No National Health Insurance.

"This comprehensive and illuminating report on the current status of women physicians and their impact on American medicine will surprise and educate you. Health care teachers, students, and researchers will want to read this book and mine it for important data on gender and medical care in the United States today."—Judith Lorber, Professor Emerita, Graduate Center and Brooklyn College, CUNY, author of Women Physicians: Careers, Status, and Power and Breaking the Bowls: Degendering and Feminist Change

"This book is particularly helpful as it seeks to understand the reasons behind the meaning of, and the ultimate outcome of, this feminization of medicine. It provides a rare insight as to the historical and social trends that have led to this change in the face of medicine, and will ultimately lead to the way medical care is delivered in the United States. As a woman chair in a traditionally male dominated specialty, I could easily relate to my own journey and the challenges I now face in helping my chosen specialty grow and adapt."—Karin Muraszko, MD, FACS, Chair and Julian T. Hoff Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Michigan

About the Author
Ann K. Boulis is Research Associate in Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. Jerry A. Jacobs is Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Revolving Doors and coauthor, most recently, of The Time Divide: Work, Family, and Gender Inequality.

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This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

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Stuart Basefsky                   
Director, IWS News Bureau                
Institute for Workplace Studies 
Cornell/ILR School                        
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor             
New York, NY 10016                        
                                   
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