Low profile, high impact: the role of the sociologist in quality in health care.

It was claimed over 50 years ago that medicine cannot do without sociology, but what impact have sociologists had on quality of health care? Most clinicians and managers would not be able to identify sociology's contribution even though it forms part of the educational preparation of healthcare professionals, including medical practitioners. Why does sociology seem invisible when it is so relevant to health care in a rapidly changing society? The declining social importance of hospital clinicians in the 1990s, for example, shows how important all the social structure of medicine is for all disciplines. In this article I have evaluated the unique role of sociology in determining quality and main methods of investigating aspects of health and illness. Reasons for sociology's low profile are discussed and future opportunities delineated.