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Although I am very proud of the contributions you are making to the profession, I profoundly disagree with your putative definition of Family Medicine as a discipline.
For me the definition is not social but scientific. Family medicine is the practice of general medicine to all ages in a context of low prevalence of disease, multiple accumulating co-morbidities and an ongoing doctor-patient relationship. The respect for the epidemiology of general practice is paramount and it is what sets us apart from specialists who treat body systems. We treat the whole patient, all their diseases, in addition to prevention and screening. We see them over time. We see symptoms evolve, either to resolve, or mutate into diseases. We manage multiple co-morbidities where evidence is scanty. We should recognize co- morbidity as an urgent area of research in family medicine.
It is this scientific approach that I believe is necessary to gain and maintain respect within the larger medical community. We are not just relationship oriented. Relationships with specialists and patients are important but not sufficient. We practice scientific generalism over time with defined denominator as a practice.
I do not know or understand what the term "family physician" actually means since the definition of family is so fluid. I consider myself a Generalist Physician and wear the label "GP" proudly.
Conflict of Interest:
None declared