How Did The Professionalization Of Medicine Change Throughout The 20th Century

The professionalization of medicine through the late 19th and early 20th centuries greatly improved but also limited medical practice as evidenced by the improvements in medical education, the formation of medical societies, and the intensifying exclusion of minorities in medicine, demonstrating the positive and negative aspects of the professionalization of science in general. The professionalization of medical practice over the late 19th and early 20th centuries provided stricter qualifications for doctors, raising their overall credibility and efficiency. At the beginning of the nineteenth century there were few, in any, requirements necessary to become a practicing doctor; the option were to go to a medical school, have an apprenticeship with a doctor, or simply hang a sign outside offering medical services (Lecture, 10/23). With this, the quality and consistency of physicians varied. This made healthcare for the public
Throughout the 1900’s, it was said that there were “not nearly enough [African American doctors] to take care of the health needs of black Americans” (Sorensen, 337). Due to the professionalization of medicine throughout the 20th century, less and less African Americans were able to become doctors because of the increasing prerequisite demands for medical schools. Also, this movement of professionalization in medicine, requiring more education, also made becoming a doctor more expensive. These increasing costs seemed to “discriminate against students who are not from comparatively affluent families” (Sorensen, 340). This group included lower class citizens and often African Americans. Therefore, it can be seen how the professionalization of medicine made the field more restricted than it had previously