Healthcare Nursing Journal
Vol. 8 No. 2 (2026): HealthCare Nursing Journal

Governmentality and Power Dynamics in Healthcare Practice: A Foucauldian Perspective

Muhammad Ilyas (STIKES Amanah Makassar, Indonesia)
Muhammad Syukur (Universitas Negeri Makassar,Indonesia)
Firdaus W. Suhaeb (Universitas Negeri Makassar, Indonesia)



Article Info

Publish Date
31 Jul 2026

Abstract

This article analyzes governmentality and power dynamics in contemporary healthcare practice through a Foucauldian perspective. It argues that healthcare does not operate only through clinical intervention, public policy, and medical expertise, but also through everyday mechanisms that form subjects who monitor, discipline, and manage their own bodies. Using a narrative-critical literature review, this article synthesizes Foucauldian concepts of power/knowledge, discipline, biopower, normalization, and governmentality with critical health studies and selected policy documents on public health, digital health, primary care integration, non-communicable disease screening, SATUSEHAT, and BPJS Kesehatan. The analysis shows that health education functions as a mechanism of behavioral formation; screening programs operate as surveillance technologies that classify risk; electronic medical records and digital platforms produce standardized medical knowledge; and insurance administration shapes access, compliance, and responsibility. These mechanisms are ambivalent: they can expand prevention, continuity of care, and population protection, yet they may also intensify surveillance, stigma, self-blame, data inequality, and unequal access when social determinants are neglected. The article contributes to socio-critical health studies by offering an analytical framework that links bodies, knowledge, policy, technology, markets, and power in healthcare governance.

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

healtcare

Publisher

Subject

Nursing

Description

Healthcare Nursing Journal merupakan salah satu Journal Elektronik yang dikelola oleh Program Studi Keperawatan Universitas Muhammadiyah Tasikmalaya. Jurnal ini terbit secara berkala, dan merupakan fasilitas bagi civitas akademika pada bidang kesehatan dan keperawatan. Memuat berbagai karya tulis ...