Author Description

The values held by physicians have changed in recent years and may not be in keeping with the needs of patients today. This book is for everyone who has concerns about the provision of healthcare -- physicians and other healthcare professionals and students, policy makers and shapers and the general public. It pays particular attention to the qualities that the public wishes to find in its physicians and other healthcare practitioners. These expectations provide a pragmatic focus by pinpointing issues on which the medical profession need to respond. This work draws heavily on voices from literature, the visual arts, and popular culture to chart the changes in public perceptions in recent years, and as well as enabling physicians to assess their own professionalism, it can also serve as an introductory text for studying medical humanities, and the role of healthcare in society.