Progress in medicine has transformed the medical profession as a whole into many specialized, technical and partial fields making it impossible for a doctor to embody the global dimension of his/her human therapeutic praxis, which was an original part of the charisma of this figure in the past and explained the old saying  Medicus ipse farmacum. The patient is becoming a piece of machinery to be fixed by a specialized technician. Today, there is a need to ‘rehumanize’ medicine and to “demedicalize” health facilities. The legislator seems to have addressed this important scientific and social problem by qualifying other health workers –above all nurses– and by identifying many others health professionals with different competences. Along this line twenty-two new university degrees have been established in Italy, apart from traditional Medicine and Dentistry. Originally they were three-year degrees, but today they are five-year degrees. Thus, medical expertise –once embodied in the figure of the doctor–  has been differentiated and broadened.

The intention was to assign to other health staff the typically human competence and the tasks that are expressed through relational skills. Clinical Psychology and Neuroscience have shown that the relational quality between a health worker and a patient has a psychosomatic effect on the biological processes, either therapeutically or iatrogenically. The cognitive-affective processing of the patient’s brain in relation to the health staff (neuroscience has highlighted the non-verbal, unconscious dialogue between the two right brains) models the processes of illness and health. Good caring instead of aseptic curing does not just satisfy the patient (a good value in and of itself) but also is a therapeutic responsibility, just as important as healing and preventing.

In order to comply with the legislator’s intention it is necessary to adequately train health staff: in thirteen of the twentytwo new qualifications, several psychological, sociological, anthropological and educational disciplines have been introduced in the curricula.

But the legislative intention is hindered by two strong converging factors. Conferring relational competence impacts on the training of the staff affective character structure; this requires unusual teaching tools in the academic world. The second adverse factor is a lack of qualified professors, worsened by a general shortage of resources in the Italian university system. These professors would have the task of constructing a body of differentiated disciplines for every health professional, and also differing from those traditionally taught. For example, Clinical Psychology for psychologists or for physicians cannot be the same as for physiotherapists nor it can be suitable for midwives or social-health staff.

An extensive research study on education would be necessary, requiring a competent and open-minded faculty; in fact, as a result of economic difficulties, university is forced to hire barely competent staff in general psychology, general sociology and general pedagogy on short-term contracts. This situation makes it impossible to use different training tools from the traditional ones. Thus, our helping professionals will lack the competence to establish a therapeutic relationship and they will not clearly understand what a “relationship” means, while health organisations will continue operating with their negative effects, unconcerned with health but only concerned with health services.

Imbasciati and his colleagues’ works ranges from publications about how psychological sciences were introduced into and accepted by the health system culture, to the documentation of the necessary competences of health workers, and finally to the increasing difficulty in constructing the curricula and conferring health degrees to these “new doctors”

In order to comply with the legislator’s intention it is necessary to adequately train health staff: in 13 of the 22 new qualifications, several psychological, sociological, anthropological and educational disciplines have been introduced in the curricula.

But the legislative intention is hindered by two strong converging factors. Conferring relational competence impacts on the training of the staff affective character structure; this requires unusual teaching tools in the academic world. The second adverse factor is a lack of qualified professors, worsened by a general shortage of resources in the Italian university system. These professors would have the task of constructing a body of differentiated disciplines for every health professional, and also differing from those traditionally taught. For example, Clinical Psychology for psychologists or for physicians cannot be the same as for physiotherapists nor it can be suitable for midwives or social-health staff.

An extensive research study on education would be necessary, requiring a competent and open-minded faculty; in fact, as a result of economic difficulties, university is forced to hire barely competent staff in general psychology, general sociology and general pedagogy on short-term contracts. This situation makes it impossible to use different training tools from the traditional ones. Thus, our helping professionals will lack the competence to establish a therapeutic relationship and they will not clearly understand what a “relationship” means, while health organisations will continue operating with their negative effects, unconcerned with health but only concerned with health services.

Imbasciati and his colleagues’ works ranges from publications about how psychological sciences were introduced into and accepted by the health system culture to the documentation of the necessary competences of health workers, and finally the increasing difficulty in constructing the curricula and conferring health degrees to these “new doctors”.

 

 

Buy it online -  Abstract - See the Editor's website

 

Buy it online -  Editor's website

Abstract - See the Magazine

Buy it online  -  Abstract  -  Editor website  -  Abstract online 

Buy it online   -   Editor website  -  Abstract

Buy it online  -  Editor website  -  Abstract

Buy it online  -  Editor website  -  Abstract

Editor website  -  Abstract