Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Jun 16, 2024
Date Accepted: Aug 28, 2025
Transformative Impact of the Internet on the Boundaries for the Physician Profession: Why Materiality Matters
ABSTRACT
During the last 25 years, the healthcare sector has undergone a digital transformation; health issues and medical conditions are increasingly managed with the support of digital health technology. The Internet has transformed the boundaries around physicians’ work, which raises questions about how technological artifacts are transforming the boundaries that have traditionally existed between the health professions and patients regarding information and knowledge. This viewpoint paper analyzes how digital health technologies can transform the boundaries of physicians’ work by examining three examples of technology aimed at patients or citizens: Open Notes, PatientsLikeMe, and Apple Watch. Traditionally, the physician profession drew the boundaries that separated itself from other professions and patients. They did this in order to define and protect their jurisdiction and professional knowledge. However, in the three artifacts analyzed, technology changes the boundaries between laypeople and physicians. Therefore, health technologies aimed at citizens impact healthcare and its professions, and the materiality of artifacts can change the boundaries between physicians and citizens. Thus, the initiators and developers of technology aimed at patients or citizens may have the power to transform the field of knowledge in healthcare.
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