Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Published Ahead of Print
    • Archive
    • Supplemental Issues
    • Collections - French
    • Collections - English
  • Info for
    • Authors & Reviewers
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • Advertisers
    • Careers & Locums
    • Subscribers
    • Permissions
  • About CFP
    • About CFP
    • About the CFPC
    • Editorial Advisory Board
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
  • Feedback
    • Feedback
    • Rapid Responses
    • Most Read
    • Most Cited
    • Email Alerts
  • Blogs
    • Latest Blogs
    • Blog Guidelines
    • Directives pour les blogues
  • Mainpro+ Credits
    • About Mainpro+
    • Member Login
    • Instructions
  • Other Publications
    • http://www.cfpc.ca/Canadianfamilyphysician/
    • https://www.cfpc.ca/Login/
    • Careers and Locums

User menu

  • My alerts

Search

  • Advanced search
The College of Family Physicians of Canada
  • Other Publications
    • http://www.cfpc.ca/Canadianfamilyphysician/
    • https://www.cfpc.ca/Login/
    • Careers and Locums
  • My alerts
The College of Family Physicians of Canada

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Published Ahead of Print
    • Archive
    • Supplemental Issues
    • Collections - French
    • Collections - English
  • Info for
    • Authors & Reviewers
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • Advertisers
    • Careers & Locums
    • Subscribers
    • Permissions
  • About CFP
    • About CFP
    • About the CFPC
    • Editorial Advisory Board
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
  • Feedback
    • Feedback
    • Rapid Responses
    • Most Read
    • Most Cited
    • Email Alerts
  • Blogs
    • Latest Blogs
    • Blog Guidelines
    • Directives pour les blogues
  • Mainpro+ Credits
    • About Mainpro+
    • Member Login
    • Instructions
  • RSS feeds
  • Follow cfp Template on Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
Article CommentaryCommentary

The gentle radical

Ten reflections on Ian McWhinney, generalism, and family medicine today

Curtis Handford and Brian Hennen
Canadian Family Physician January 2014; 60 (1) 20-23;
Curtis Handford
Works in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at St Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Ont, and is Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto.
MD CCFP MHSc
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: curtis.handford@utoronto.ca
Brian Hennen
MD CCFP FCFP
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • eLetters
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Article Information

vol. 60 no. 1 20-23
PubMed 
24452555

Published By 
The College of Family Physicians of Canada
Print ISSN 
0008-350X
Online ISSN 
1715-5258
History 
  • Published online January 22, 2014.

Copyright & Usage 
Copyright© the College of Family Physicians of Canada

Author Information

  1. Curtis Handford, MD CCFP MHSc⇑
  1. Works in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at St Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Ont, and is Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto.
  1. Correspondence: Dr Curtis Handford, St Michael’s Hospital, 410 Sherbourne St, Toronto, ON M4X 1K2; telephone 416 867-3728; e-mail curtis.handford{at}utoronto.ca
  1. Brian Hennen, MD CCFP FCFP
  1. Professor of Family Medicine at Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS.

Cited By...

  • 10 Citations
  • Google Scholar
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Canadian Family Physician: 60 (1)
Canadian Family Physician
Vol. 60, Issue 1
1 Jan 2014
  • Table of Contents
  • About the Cover
  • Index by author
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on The College of Family Physicians of Canada.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
The gentle radical
(Your Name) has sent you a message from The College of Family Physicians of Canada
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the The College of Family Physicians of Canada web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
The gentle radical
Curtis Handford, Brian Hennen
Canadian Family Physician Jan 2014, 60 (1) 20-23;

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Respond to this article
Share
The gentle radical
Curtis Handford, Brian Hennen
Canadian Family Physician Jan 2014, 60 (1) 20-23;
Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Generalism is a distinctive clinical method
    • In Canada, family practice is the epitome of generalist clinical practice
    • Generalism has a scientific basis
    • Generalists are often diagnosticians, sometimes curers, but always healers
    • Society increasingly expects specialist attention, perhaps at their peril
    • Demands on generalists are constantly shifting
    • Generalists face challenges, including from within family medicine
    • Generalist skill needs to be modeled for learners to engage
    • Family physicians require particular learning to be effective generalists
    • Family physicians are expert clinicians, not specialists
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • eLetters
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • The quiet revolutionary
  • Le radical courtois
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • Mettre fin au jeu du blame generationnel: Entamons les changements necessaires en soins primaires
  • Ending the generational blame game: Let us move forward with needed primary care change
  • Assessing undergraduate medical education through a generalist lens
  • Managing complexity in care of patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities: Natural fit for the family physician as an expert generalist
  • What does it take to be a good GP?
  • Changing face of family medicine
  • The quiet revolutionary
  • Le revolutionnaire pacifique
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Task sharing, community health workers, and Canada’s primary care crisis
  • Increased proportion of family medicine residents did not want to be family physicians
  • Diving deep in the undergraduate medical education curriculum
Show more Commentary

Similar Articles

Navigate

  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Archive
  • Collections - English
  • Collections - Française

For Authors

  • Authors and Reviewers
  • Submit a Manuscript
  • Permissions
  • Terms of Use

General Information

  • About CFP
  • About the CFPC
  • Advertisers
  • Careers & Locums
  • Editorial Advisory Board
  • Subscribers

Journal Services

  • Email Alerts
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • RSS Feeds

Copyright © 2025 by The College of Family Physicians of Canada

Powered by HighWire