Abstract

All patients have the right to be an advocate for their own healthcare; however, most patients in today’s society abuse that right by delving from professional medical advice given per their healthcare provider. It is imperative that self-diagnosis and self-treatment do not undermine healthcare professionals and do not replace the medical treatment advice given to incite healing. Do-it-yourself healthcare has become increasingly popular in the last decade due largely in part to rising healthcare costs. While having negative implications on modern society, the articles explored illustrate how do-it-yourself healthcare has given rise to a new era of chaos proving that healthcare is not what it used to be—or could be. Self-diagnosis, self-treatment, and self-monitoring in conjunction with observations in patient behavior and technology show that unfiltered various information is taken out of context to support individual claims of proposed ailments while things like smart device software applications recommend alternative treatments to healing.

Keywords:do-it-yourself healthcare, self-treatment, self-diagnosis, self-monitoring, social networking, supply and demand, cost shifting

Year Manuscript Completed

Fall 2018

Senior Project Advisor

Dr. Miranda Terry

Degree Awarded

Bachelor of Integrated Studies Degree

Field of Study

Natural Sciences

Document Type

Thesis

Download

Share

COinS