Family doctors provide primary care that is by definition continuous, comprehensive, coordinated, accountable, affordable and accessible. This approach to âdis-easeâ and the patient in the context of the family and the community does not limit the patientâs or familyâs access to the physician by predetermined barriers such as age, sex or disease. The goal of the family doctor is to help maintain an individual in harmony with his/her environment, help him/her regain this harmony if lost and help him/her minimize the disharmony. Although the basis of medical care is biologic science, the approach includes a great deal of art and a willingness to handle a healthy disease of uncertainty. The mainspring of family practice is peopleâwell people, babies, adolescence, sick people, adults and the elderly. Most of these individuals are well known to the family physician; many are life-long friends. The needs of these patients fill the day of the family doctor Birrer RB et al. The Complete Practitioner: The Role of a Family Physician.
The journal content of general practice is multi-disciplinary and thus includes articles on public health, health issues, epidemiology, health care delivery, health promotion and medical sociology of interest to a primary health care provider audience.
Last date updated on June, 2014
