Academic Physicians as Factory Workers: Identifying and Preventing Alienation of Labor

Recent changes in the culture of academic obstetrics and gynecology have increased the potential for disconnect between physicians and their patients. These changes include increased emphasis on productivity, burgeoning bureaucracies for purposes of compliance, arbitrary clinical goals such as low cesarean delivery rates, the electronic medical record, and lack of respect. These changes are predatory on professionalism when they alienate obstetrician-gynecologists from their patients. The concepts of alienated labor and non-alienated labor in the political philosophy of Karl Marx can be used to explain this alienation.

Source: American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology - January 7, 2019 Category: OBGYN Authors: Frank A. Chervenak, Laurence B. McCullough Tags: Clinical Opinion Source Type: research