Have you seen the video showing the nurse mocking a patient “faking” their health problems? Medical sociologists have been studying this type of disturbing humor for half a century...
#medtwitter #soctwitter (1/6)

Bravado, mockery, & macabre humor are all a part of the socialization of physicians (& hc providers). Classic studies show how occurs as early as anatomy class in medical school. Often in response to stress, but also *medical uncertainty*. (2/6)

Medical uncertainty occurs across all areas of medicine, but is particularly concentrated in patients we haven’t studied as much or sub-group we haven’t served. Women & minorities have been excluded from so much of the biomedical research we use to develop health care. (3/6)

The video demonstrates how we expect women and men to “do” gender differently in the clinical setting. Men’s masculinity and toughness mean they forego care (a “virtue”) and women seek care unnecessarily. Just one reading from my class this semester (4/6)

The patient reactions on Twitter have largely centered around chronic health problems for which there is a great deal of medical uncertainty, either in diagnosis and/or treatment. And we can see how this compounds with the way women are treated during pregnancy. (5/6)

What results are clear biases within the clinical setting, & inequalities in health care outcomes. Most health care providers have good intentions, but these implicit/explicit biases contribute to the racial & gender inequalities we see in health care today. (6/6)

One last point. What is fascinating is that Twitter has pulled back the curtain and made an example of the nurse who posted the video. Normally the “front stage” and “back stage” presentations of self (Goffman) are separated. But here, we see it on display.

Correction: instead of nurse, *health care provider*