Girling

Here are my thoughts on what it should be.

If you didn’t know, my full-time job is in public health. I specialize in sexual and reproductive health and have spent years studying women’s sexual and reproductive health, so I often consider how we approach women’s healthcare and trends in the industry. This week, I’ve been thinking about how the classic model of women’s health (i.e., attributing all women’s symptoms to menstruation, considering women smaller versions of men, lumping maternal and child health together, etc.) and how they compare to new approaches to women’s health.

Classically, women’s health has been dismissed as not unique enough to be considered its own medical specialty. There’s been a lot of debate around how to best approach the subject since modern medicine began acknowledging the physiological differences between the sexes, but what came out of the debate was what we have now- siloed medical care.

The siloed medical system of women’s health implies that women’s health needs begin and end with their genitalia and has come to be known as Bikini Medicine (get it?). And, while gynecology is a critical component of care and this approach does work in some ways, it’s not a perfect system. For example, you may have a pap smear with your gynecologist, but then be referred to an oncologist if they detect cancerous cells in your cervix. Or maybe you complain to your general physician about abdominal pain and are dismissed rather than being referred to a gynecologist to check for common issues such as endometriosis. The lack of communication between specialties and the assumption that bodies function as disconnected parts of a whole does a disservice to women patients.

The other tendency of modern medical structures is to combine women and children together. (Note: this is a problem across industries, not just in medicine. Think about people on the Titanic telling women and children to get in the lifeboats first. The issue deserves its own article, so let’s move on for now). You see this most starkly, I think, in medical academia where Maternal and Child Health is a common research topic. While the two are very much connected, especially when a child is young, it does a disservice to birthing people by reducing them to just mothers and only addressing their needs when the health of a child is at stake. (Again, this is part of a larger discussion for another week).

I’m not the only one who thinks there’s a problem here. There has been research and publications and advocacy for more inclusive care, particularly for women. In Maternal and Child Health, for example, there is a push to consider the birthing person’s overall health during the interconception period (this is simply the time between pregnancies, with the period immediately following birth being the “fourth trimester”). The wave of innovation in women’s health in recent years pushes for a more holistic and dynamic model of care.

For example, there have been several organizations that have been formed with the express purpose of holistically treating women’s needs. These organizations provide sexual and reproductive health as well as primary care, mental health services, and more. Some, like Midi, focus on specific target populations such as midlife women, a group often overlooked in the classical structure of medicine.

In my opinion, the advances in the structure of women’s healthcare are amazing steps in the right direction. And, while I believe the classical structure of care is reductionist, I think innovative healthcare organizations must avoid the trap of focusing on Bikini Medicine or pigeon-holing themselves. Especially in the context of a privatized health system like that of the United States, healthcare organizations have a responsibility to consider the whole patient’s health rather than just parts of it. And, while Western medicine does not overarchingly follow a holistic approach, this approach is becoming more popular. I hope the future of women’s health continues to follow the same pattern.

---

Like what you see? Share with friends and make sure to follow!