Standardized protocols, patient checklists, and clinical guidelines are meant to increase efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control in the clinical setting. However, critics of standardizing medicine suggest that these sorts of practices may lead to:

Question

Standardized protocols, patient checklists, and clinical guidelines are meant to increase efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control in the clinical setting.  However, critics of standardizing medicine suggest that these sorts of practices may lead to:

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11ecba2d_0d4c_476c_a3bf_9d0a84b83f53_MD0008_00 In sociology, bureaucracy is defined as the most efficient and rational way to organize human behavior. A critical perspective of bureaucracy, McDonaldization describes the process by which extreme efficiency and rationalization produce negative consequences. The term stems from the fast-food industry, in which processes to increase efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control ensure that all franchised restaurants produce a similar, standardized product and experience. McDonaldization describes when the following happens in society: Efficiency produces optimization at the cost of individuality. Calculability produces high quantities at the expense of quality. Predictability produces standardization at the expense of uniqueness. Control increases automation, reducing the need for a skilled workforce. Standardized protocols, patient checklists, and clinical guidelines may increase efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control at the expense of patient care. Therefore, critics would most likely argue that McDonaldization of health care has occurred. (Choice A) Manifest functions are the intended social outcomes of an institution. For example, the health care system is meant to take care of ill individuals in society. Latent functions are unintended outcomes, such as increasing disparity in health outcomes for wealthy and poor individuals. Critics would be more likely to suggest that standardizing medicine leads to latent (not manifest) functions of health care. (Choice C) Cultural capital describes the nonfinancial and nonsocial network assets that confer advantage in society (eg, a degree from a well-respected university). Standardizing medicine should not increase the cultural capital of physicians in any way. (Choice D) Ascribed status is a position in society based on a social construct such as age, gender, or race/ethnicity. Standardizing medicine would likely increase the categorization of patients based on these constructs, thereby increasing (not decreasing) the use of ascribed patient status. Educational objective: McDonaldization is the process whereby efficiency reduces individuality, calculability reduces quality, predictability reduces uniqueness, and control reduces the need for a skilled workforce.

Standardized Protocols, Patient Checklists, and Clinical Guidelines Are Meant to Increase