“Professional–Care Recipient Interactionism” framework in the digital era of medical advancement: a tacit knowledge perspective

In an era of medical digitization, tacit knowledge – experiential, context-dependent knowing central to humanistic care – faces marginalization despite technological advances. Drawing on Michael Polanyi’s theory, this paper advocates for a “Professional–Care Recipient Interactionism” framework, which transcends the doctor-patient dyad by integrating epistemic pluralism, bidirectional power dynamics, and structural contextualization. This framework safeguards medical practice integrity by valuing tacit knowledge from both professionals and care recipients, bridging micro-interactions with macro structures to foster equitable, dignity-affirming care. Embedding tacit knowledge within this framework is essential to ensure technology serves, not replaces, medicine’s humanistic core.