Untimely Teaching: The Difficulties of Bringing Sociology-Related Topics to Future Healthcare Professionals

In Taiwan, a society highly esteeming physicians and the medical profession, teaching sociology-related topics to healthcare professional students is often a frustrating yet stimulating challenge. After the "Medical Education Reform" in the late 1990s, which established the Taiwan Medical Accreditation Council (TMAC) for three-year regular evaluations, this experience entered a new phase. Before this, most healthcare students either took sociology-related courses as electives or spontaneously pursued sociology through participating in dissenting student groups. After the reform, with "medical humanities" becoming a required part of the curriculum, sociology, alongside other humanities and social sciences, secured a defined place. This paper conducted a comparative study of three teaching topics—health inequalities with intersectionality, the sociological imagination of health, and the sociological definition of professions—which have been repeatedly introduced in the classroom over the past several years. The aim is to explore the various challenges that may arise when introducing sociology-related topics to healthcare students.

In response to evaluation requirements, the topic of "health inequalities" most easily lends itself to course content that meets accreditation standards, such as cross-cultural competence, doctor-patient communication, reducing stereotypes or stigma, and patient-rights advocacy. Epistemologically, "health inequalities" is the most accessible for students trained within the biomedical paradigm. However, "the sociological imagination of health" tends to spark greater student interest, connecting the acquisition of knowledge to personal and everyday experiences. From a pedagogical perspective, the first two topics—while valuable—often serve as peripheral or supplementary knowledge for healthcare students. In contrast, the "sociological definition of professions" may align more closely with the core teaching objective of cultivating professionalism. Furthermore, it can even extend to a critical, reflective understanding of the role of medical professionals in society. In sum, “breaking-up the whole into pieces” is a coping strategy to institutional, epistemological, and pedagogical difficulties.