1. Extra/ordinary medicine: Toward an anthropology of primary care
- Author
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Sideman, Alissa Bernstein and Razon, Na'amah
- Subjects
Health Services and Systems ,Health Sciences ,Human Society ,Health Services ,Clinical Research ,Prevention ,8.1 Organisation and delivery of services ,7.1 Individual care needs ,7.3 Management and decision making ,Generic health relevance ,Good Health and Well Being ,Humans ,United States ,Anthropology ,Anthropology ,Cultural ,Delivery of Health Care ,Medicine ,Primary Health Care ,Dementia ,Extra/ordinary ,Primary care ,Qualitative methods ,Social determinants of health ,Medical and Health Sciences ,Economics ,Studies in Human Society ,Public Health ,Health sciences ,Human society - Abstract
Primary care is at the forefront of healthcare delivery. It is the site of disease prevention and health management and serves as the bridge between communities and the health care system As ethnographers of primary care, in this article we discuss what is gained by situating anthropological inquiry within primary care. We articulate how anthropologists can contribute to a better understanding of the issues that emerge in primary care. We provide a review of anthropological work in primary care and offer empirical data from two ethnographic case studies based in the United States, one focused on social risk screening in primary care and the other examining the diagnosis and care of people with dementia in primary care. Through these cases, we demonstrate how research of and within primary care can open important avenues for the study of the multidimensionality of primary care. This multidimensionality is apparent in the ways the medical field addresses the social and structural experiences of patients, scope of practice and disciplinary boundaries, and the intersection of ordinary and extraordinary medicine that emerge in the care of patients in primary care.
- Published
- 2024