It seems odd for a supposedly patient-centred profession to still have special interest groups that perpetuate the idea that the body can be carved up by systems and structures, and that I could be a cardiorespiratory, neurological or musculoskeletal physiotherapist and not a physiotherapist for the whole person. Special Interest Groups (or SIGs) are historically significant divisions within the profession that owe their structure to the guilds that formed in the Middle Ages, when blacksmiths, printers and jewellers tried to protect the interests of their members and promote their speciality (see Farr, 1997 or Smith 2004). But SIGs may now be creating more problems than they resolve, and … [Read more...] about New: (Special) Interests
Zachariah A et al (2013) ‘Towards a critical medical practice: reflections on the dilemmas of medical culture today’
A recent book review for a book titled 'Towards a Critical Medical Practice: Reflections on the Dilemmas of Medical Culture Today' made me reflect on one of the prevailing questions facing physiotherapy in the 21st century. The review said this: The study of the postcolonial Indian healthcare system with its manifold sociocultural complexities and incongruities offers rich cross-cultural perspectives; the interplay between the legacies of colonialism and the shifting priorities of a vibrant but bureaucratically entrenched state apparatus reveals that it has over the decades succumbed to pressures from neo-liberalism and the free market, and that its initial commitments to providing care … [Read more...] about Zachariah A et al (2013) ‘Towards a critical medical practice: reflections on the dilemmas of medical culture today’