A Study of the Social and Psychological Implications of Surgery As Seen in a Study of Twenty Cases Referred to the Surgical Diagnostic Clinic St. Vincent’s Hospital, New York
Abstract
In the early years of medical care, prior to the time when medicine had entered the era of specialization and before community living had taken on its present complex characteristics, the provision of medical care for the ill patient was a relatively simple matter. Most present day medical care takes place in a hospital, where there is an intricate web of purposes and procedures. It is generally agreed that the rendering of modern medical care in a hospital involves an extremely complex interweaving of personal relationship and impersonal manipulative processes. As might be expected, there are recurrent situations in illness which are particularly difficult for many patients to accept. Any illness may provide conscious or unconscious fears and create resistance to seeking medical advice. Surgery especially is often more difficult to accept than medical care because of fear of mutilation, anesthesia, bleeding, pain and death. The surgical patient must also adjust to hospital routine, medical authority, restraint and long drawn-out care. Because of the patient’s fears about surgery, often he delays in seeking early medical attention.
Subject Area
Social work|Clinical psychology|Social studies education|Health care management
Recommended Citation
Starace, Juliet Mercedes, "A Study of the Social and Psychological Implications of Surgery As Seen in a Study of Twenty Cases Referred to the Surgical Diagnostic Clinic St. Vincent’s Hospital, New York" (1950). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI30724932.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI30724932
