The complexity of physician power

The complexity of physician power
Science; by Laura Nimmon; 5/16/24
Inequitable variation in physician effort and resource use is revealed. Power is present in all human relationships. Thus, there is no interaction in which power and its potential to exert influence is not relevant in medicine. Although the role of power in medical interactions is important, few studies investigate how physicians allocate effort and execute their power when interacting with patients. ... The nature of physicians’ relationships with patients is characterized as top down and asymmetrical (1). This unequal relationship is thought to be a product of physicians possessing legitimized expert knowledge and legal decision-making authority and patients who are reliant on care and services. Underpinning this power afforded to physicians is societal trust that physicians will always act altruistically and ethically toward patients.
Publisher's Note: Also see the related article How power shapes behavior: Evidence from physicians by Stephen D. Schwab, Manasvini in the same issue. [They] investigate how physician power in the US Military Health System interfaces with sociological phenomena such as hierarchy, status, and authority. Their findings reveal the variability and complex mechanisms through which physician power is exerted, ultimately providing nuance about how the ethics of physician power is understood as it interfaces with other hierarchical systems of power.