History of Medicine John P. McGovern Lecture: "The Patient as ‘Watch Bird’: Historical Perspectives on Patients’ Roles in Health Care Quality Reform"

Today's physician and patient participate in many forms of data collection with the promise that it will improve the quality of patient care. These practices reflect a managerial approach known as "continuous quality improvement" that has dominated American health care in the late 20th century. In this presentation, Nancy Tomes, Distinguished Professor of History at Stony Brook University, will explore the origins of this approach and why 'big data" efforts to capture patient experience have become such a prominent--and perplexing-tool of health care reform.

For more information visit: The History of Medicine