Quand les professionnels de santé jouent aux instituteurs

Abstract

In the health field, as in other fields, there are more and more devices that are supposed to reduce the distance between lay people and experts. This is the case of therapeutic patient education (TPE), which, for several decades in France, has been presented as a third medicine intended to rebalance the medical relationship. However, this current study tends to demonstrate the opposite: TPE empowers health professionals who, acting as true "school teachers", are seen as white hussars of public health. Patients, on the other hand, seem to accept their role as "learners" and are not without power.

Keywords

• medical power
• autonomy
• paternalism