After reading Pimlott’s editorial in the May issue of Canadian Family Physician, in which he reflects on the “hidden curriculum” that promotes a hierarchy between generalist family physicians and specialists,1 I wanted to share some of my own thoughts. I have done both jobs. I received emergency medicine designations from both the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the College of Family Physicians of Canada in 1983. Family practice is harder than emergency medicine is because you are all alone in your office without laboratory and imaging results for weeks. You don’t have the nurses and specialists at your fingertips. The patients keep coming back when specialists can’t help them. We have patients for 50 years. Specialists can cherry pick their patients. We take all comers, including those dealing with dental issues who can’t afford a dentist, or those living with psychological distress who can’t afford a psychologist. But hey, why fight when we need each other? Specialists could never see our volume, and we can’t drill down on tiny areas like they can. So let’s keep working together to help the world.
Footnotes
Competing interests
None declared
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Reference
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