Norredam Marie, Album Dag
Department of Health Services Research, Institute of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Scand J Public Health. 2007;35(6):655-61. doi: 10.1080/14034940701362137.
The aim of this paper is to review the literature concerning the existence of prestige hierarchies for medical specialities and diseases. Moreover, the implications of prestige for priority setting in healthcare systems are discussed.
The study is based on a review of the literature. Papers were obtained through the National Library of Medicine, PubMed. The search was conducted on 14 July 2005, and included articles from 1950 until that date. The medical subject headings "disease", "illness", and "medical specialities" were combined with the search word "prestige". A total of 183 papers were found. Only studies focusing on prestige hierarchies for medical specialities and diseases were included. The final search identified 20 articles, six of which specifically established hierarchies for medical specialities and diseases.
The review documented prestige hierarchies for medical specialities and diseases. Explanatory characteristics behind the distribution of prestige were identified. It was demonstrated that active, specialized, biomedical, and high-technological types of medicine practised on organs in the upper part of the bodies of young or middle-aged people were accorded high levels of prestige. Medicine with the opposite characteristics had low levels of prestige.
Medical specialities and diseases differ with regard to prestige. Characteristics related to specialties and diseases determine their prestige. The authors suggest that differences in prestige bear consequences for actual priority setting in healthcare systems, and contend that this should be further investigated.
本文旨在综述有关医学专科和疾病威望等级存在情况的文献。此外，还讨论了威望对医疗保健系统中优先级设定的影响。
本研究基于文献综述。通过美国国立医学图书馆的PubMed获取论文。检索于2005年7月14日进行，包括1950年至该日期的文章。医学主题词“疾病”“病症”和“医学专科”与检索词“威望”相结合。共找到183篇论文。仅纳入关注医学专科和疾病威望等级的研究。最终检索确定了20篇文章，其中6篇专门建立了医学专科和疾病的等级体系。
该综述记录了医学专科和疾病的威望等级。确定了威望分布背后的解释性特征。结果表明，在年轻或中年人的身体上部器官上实施的积极、专科、生物医学和高科技类型的医学享有较高威望。具有相反特征的医学威望较低。
医学专科和疾病在威望方面存在差异。与专科和疾病相关的特征决定了它们的威望。作者认为，威望差异对医疗保健系统中的实际优先级设定有影响，并主张对此应进一步研究。
