Mariko Morishita1, Junko Iida2, Hiroshi Nishigori3. 1. Medical Education Center, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Konoe-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan. Electronic address: morishita.mariko.73x@kyoto-u.jp. 2. Faculty of Health and Welfare, Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare, 288 Matsushima, Kurashiki Okayama, 701-0193, Japan. Electronic address: iida@mw.kawasaki-m.ac.jp. 3. Medical Education Center, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Konoe-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan; Center for Medical Education, Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya University, 65 Tsurumai-cho Showa-ku Nagoya 466-8560 Japan. Electronic address: hiroshi-nishigori@umin.net.
Abstract
PURPOSE: Doctors' illness experiences can deeply influence not only their perceptions of illness and roles but also their medical practice. Researchers and doctors have sought to understand what happens when doctors become patients. However, currently, literature reviews focused exclusively on their illness experiences are lacking. This review examines academic literature and combines it with illness narratives (i.e., pathographies) written by doctors to elucidate the unknown about doctors' experiences and its subsequent influence on medical practice. METHODS: An electronic search of the databases Academic Search Complete, Google Scholar, PubMed, ProQuest, and Ichushi-Web was conducted using relevant keywords. The literature reviewed included studies that described doctors' illness experiences or doctors' perspectives on their experiences of being patients. RESULTS: Previous studies showed that doctors' disease prognoses are generally better than or similar to those of patients belonging to the general population. However, doctors' documented illness experiences are multi-dimensional and have several common themes. These include the concept of the 'medical self' (behaving as a doctor despite being a patient) and 'role reversal' (the doctor adjusting to the patient role). The other elements of their experiences include barriers to health care, self-treatment and self-doctoring, presenteeism, and 'wounded healers' (those who can heal others using the wisdom from their illness experiences). Most previous literature has omitted the sociocultural and historical dispositions of doctors and their biomedical perspectives of their own afflictions, even though these strongly impact their illness experiences. CONCLUSION: Further research that re-contextualises the meaning of illness for doctors is necessary.
PURPOSE: Doctors' illness experiences can deeply influence not only their perceptions of illness and roles but also their medical practice. Researchers and doctors have sought to understand what happens when doctors become patients. However, currently, literature reviews focused exclusively on their illness experiences are lacking. This review examines academic literature and combines it with illness narratives (i.e., pathographies) written by doctors to elucidate the unknown about doctors' experiences and its subsequent influence on medical practice. METHODS: An electronic search of the databases Academic Search Complete, Google Scholar, PubMed, ProQuest, and Ichushi-Web was conducted using relevant keywords. The literature reviewed included studies that described doctors' illness experiences or doctors' perspectives on their experiences of being patients. RESULTS: Previous studies showed that doctors' disease prognoses are generally better than or similar to those of patients belonging to the general population. However, doctors' documented illness experiences are multi-dimensional and have several common themes. These include the concept of the 'medical self' (behaving as a doctor despite being a patient) and 'role reversal' (the doctor adjusting to the patient role). The other elements of their experiences include barriers to health care, self-treatment and self-doctoring, presenteeism, and 'wounded healers' (those who can heal others using the wisdom from their illness experiences). Most previous literature has omitted the sociocultural and historical dispositions of doctors and their biomedical perspectives of their own afflictions, even though these strongly impact their illness experiences. CONCLUSION: Further research that re-contextualises the meaning of illness for doctors is necessary.
Authors: Christine Cohidon; Liv Mahler; Barbara Broers; Thierry Favrod-Coune; Amir Moussa; Paul Sebo Journal: Int J Public Health Date: 2022-02-15 Impact factor: 3.380