ASSIGNMENT: Medical Sociology

Directions: Be sure to make an electronic copy of your answer before submitting it to Ashworth College for grading. Unless otherwise stated, answer in complete sentences, and be sure to use correct English spelling and grammar. Sources must be cited in APA format. Your response should be three to six pages in length; refer to the "Assignment Format" page for specific format requirements.

You have learned a great deal of information on the sociology of health, illness, and health care.This written assignment will allow you to provide practical application of concepts learned. This written assignment contains two parts. In the first part, you will combine responses to questions into a single document. Please see list of questions below:

Please answer the following questions in 250 words or more.

What factors account for the rise of managed care? What are the potential pitfalls and benefits of managed care?

Give an example of how medical technology shapes society, and of how society shapes medical technology.

What factors led sociologists to conclude that nursing is a semi-profession? How has nursing attempted to become a full-fledged profession, and why hasn't it succeeded?

Is it ethical for the federal government to pay the costs of kidney dialysis for all patients, regardless of age or income, as it now does, but not to pay the costs of other illnesses? Which would be more reasonable and more feasible: extending benefits to those who have other illnesses or withdrawing them from those who need kidney dialysis?

Part II

For part two of the assignment, you are asked to find a newspaper article or peer-reviewed journal article related to material covered in class or in the text and provide a written analysis of the article that explores a medical sociological aspect of the ideas or events depicted within the article. Within your written analysis, you need to identify one of the last four course learning objectives presented in the course and explain how this learning objective relates to the article selected. When selecting your article, please make sure the article identifies one of the subjects discussed within lessons five through eight. Response should be a minimum of two pages long, submitted according to APA guidelines with applicable reference page and title page (title page and reference page not included in page count).

The four course learning objectives are provided below:

5. Compare and describe traditional-scientific medicine and alternative forms of healthcare, and explain how social-cultural and political-economic factors affect these health care methods.

6. Describe the structure and operation of the American health care system, and contrast the major features with the health care systems found in other advanced industrial nations.

7. Identify and discuss ethical issues/moral dilemmas involved with the conducting of medical research, providing or withholding health care for the sick and dying.

8. Identify and describe how environmental conditions and contaminants influence public health, and how social, political, economic, and cultural forces shape environmental conditions and contaminants.