Health Administration and Policy Metaphors

Wei Wang

English 393

6/24/2009

What is a Metaphor?• a rhetorical trope where a

comparison is made between two seemingly unrelated subjects. Typically, a first object is described as being a second object.

• Examples of metaphors:Mortgage Meltdown, Troop Surge, and Graveyard Shift

• Source:http://www.all-science-fair projects.com/science_fair_projects_encyclopedia/Metaphor

3 Common Metaphors

Rule of Thumb• Definition: estimation

made according to a rough and ready practical rule, not based on science or exact measurement.

• Derive from the belief that English law allowed a man to beat his wife with a stick so long as it is was no thicker than his thumb.

• Source:http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/rule-of-thumb.html

A Skeleton in the Closet• Definition: A secret source

of shame, potentially ruinous if exposed, which a person or family makes efforts to conceal.

• The phrase 'a skeleton in the closet' was coined in England in the 19th century.

• The English now usually use 'a skeleton in the cupboard', with 'skeleton in the closet' more common in the USA.

• Source:• http://www.phrases.org.uk/

meanings/skeleton-in-the-closet.html

Double Cross• Definition: An act of

treachery, perpetrated on a previous partner in a deceit.

• The term 'double-cross' has been used in various contexts for many centuries, usually as a straightforward reference to the shape of two crosses, as in the architectural design of cathedrals for example.

• Source:http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/double-cross.html

Health Administration and Policy

• A statement of a decision regarding a goal in health care and a plan for achieving that goal. For example, to prevent an epidemic, a program for inoculating a population is developed and implemented.

• Source:http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/health+policy

Health Care Gatekeeper• Definition: Gatekeepers

don't determine what routes patients travel or how quickly they move, just whether they can enter the system and how much they pay when they exit. A gatekeeper's role is exclusively commercial

• Example: “Health care gatekeepers are hard to find these days.”

• Source:http://albany.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/1999/05/24/smallb4.html?page=2

Sank into a Coma• Definition: slowly

started to go into an unconscious state of mind and go into a coma.

• The metaphor is constructed rounded the idea that health is up and illness is down.

• Source:http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/pagerender.fcgi?artid=1419170&pageindex=1

Medicine is war• Definition: encourages

the virtues required to survive the long hours and intense hierarchies of hospital life

• discriminates against feeling and reflection and makes it harder to strike the right balance between work and personal life

• Source:http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/pagerender.fcgi?artid=1419170&pageindex=1

The EndAny Questions?