Drawing on the expertise of a nationally recognized group of family practice educators affiliated with the University of California, Drs. Little and Midtling are able to present many specific examples on meeting the challenges of becoming a family physician. Also included are chapters that draw out the differences between inpatient and outpatient service, discuss the teaching of practice management, and touch on the impact of specialists in ethics and cross cultural communication on family practice teams. The concluding chapters examine how family physicians have survived in the "medical community", and examine the future of family practice.

With family doctors increasingly overburdened, bureaucratized, and burned out, how can the field change before it's too late? Over the past few decades, as American medical practice has become increasingly specialized, the number of generalists—doctors who care for the whole person—has plummeted. On paper, family medicine sounds noble; in practice, though, the field is so demanding in scope and substance, and the health system so favorable to specialists, that it cannot be fulfilled by most doctors. In Searching for the Family Doctor, Timothy J. Hoff weaves together the early history of the family practice specialty in the United States with the personal narratives of modern-day family doctors. By formalizing this area of practice and instituting specialist-level training requirements, the originators of family practice hoped to increase respect for generalists, improve the pipeline of young medical graduates choosing primary care, and, in so doing, have a major positive impact on the way patients receive care. Drawing on in-depth interviews with fifty-five family doctors, Hoff shows us how these medical professionals have had their calling transformed not only by the indifferent acts of an unsupportive health care system but by the hand of their own medical specialty—a specialty that has chosen to pursue short- over long-term viability, conformity over uniqueness, and protectionism over collaboration. A specialty unable to innovate to keep its membership cohesive and focused on fulfilling the generalist ideal. The family doctor, Hoff explains, was conceived of as a powered-up version of the "country doctor" idea. At a time when doctor-patient relationships are evaporating in the face of highly transactional, fast-food-style medical practice, this ideal seems both nostalgic and revolutionary. However, the realities of highly bureaucratic reimbursement and quality-of-care requirements, educational debt, and ongoing consolidation of the old-fashioned independent doctor's office into corporate health systems have stacked the deck against the altruists and true believers who are drawn to the profession of family practice. As more family doctors wind up working for big health care corporations, their career paths grow more parochial, balkanizing the specialty. Their work roles and professional identities are increasingly niche-oriented. Exploring how to save primary care by giving family doctors a fighting chance to become the generalists we need in our lives, Searching for the Family Doctor is required reading for anyone interested in the troubled state of modern medicine.

"I have advised countless medical students and applicants over more than two decades and I repeatedly found myself agreeing with the advice given by the Daneks." --Michael V. Drake, M.D.Professor and Associate Dean, School of Medicine University of California, San Francisco "These authors have the experience, knowledge, and writing skills to lead the lost through the maze of uncertainties of medical schools and beyond."--Robert H. Shapiro, Ph.D.Academic Dean and Provost U.S. Naval Academy "Any student thinking about a career in medicine should have this book."--Tyrone D. Taborn Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Career Communications Group, Inc. Here, at last, is the book that will help you realize your dream of a career in medicine. Whether your goal is to work in a busy city hospital ER, as a country doctor, or in research, here you'll find innovative ways to actively plan and tailor your medical school education to meet your specific needs. Explore your many options with: * Straight facts on the medical school admissions process * Up-to-date information on the MCAT * Advice on selecting the right medical school * The current medical trends and the most attractive specialties

'McWhinney's Textbook of Family Medicine' is one of the seminal texts in the field, defining the principles and practices of family medicine as a distinct field of practice. The fourth edition presents six new clinical chapters of common problems in family medicine.

Becoming a Family Physician - Exploring the Experiences of Residents During the First Six Months of Postgraduate Training describes the early training experience of residents from their perspective as they begin a postgraduate program in Family Medicine. A case study approach using focus groups and individual interviews was used to gain insight into the resident-participant's experiences of the first six months of training. Resident-participants were asked to describe their concerns, changes that occurred and the influences they attributed to those changes as a way to explore their early training experiences from their perspective. This study found resident-trainees do not begin a Family Medicine postgraduate training program knowing what it means to be a Family Physician, but must learn what it means to fulfill this role. From the participants' perspective, this process involves adjusting to significant shifts in responsibility in the areas of Knowledge, Practice Management and Relationships that occur when they make the transition from being medical students in undergraduate training to doctors responsible for the outcome of care during postgraduate training. As the participants began postgraduate training they were eager to accept the responsibility of being the doctor, but were uncertain they had the necessary medical experience and expertise for someone calling themselves the doctor. The experience of practice, which included developing relationships with different patients over time (continuity of care) was particularly influential in helping the participants gain confidence in fulfilling the role of doctor and learning that the role of Family Physician is complex, multifaceted and not limited to their initial concept of doctoring. As the participants adjusted to their new responsibilities, they gained confidence in their new role as doctor, which subsequently led to a more comprehensive understanding of what it meant to be a Family Physician. This study was able to contribute to what little is know about the transition into a postgraduate Family Medicine program by illuminating from the resident-participant's perspective how the transition is experienced. In doing so, medical educators have a better understanding of the early training experience of resident-trainees and how these experiences contribute to consolidating their new professional identity.

Heirs of General Practice is a frieze of glimpses of young doctors with patients of every age—about a dozen physicians in all, who belong to the new medical specialty called family practice. They are people who have addressed themselves to a need for a unifying generalism in a world that has become greatly subdivided by specialization, physicians who work with the "unquantifiable idea that a doctor who treats your grandmother, your father, your niece, and your daughter will be more adroit in treating you." These young men and women are seen in their examining rooms in various rural communities in Maine, but Maine is only the example. Their medical objectives, their successes, the professional obstacles they do and do not overcome are representative of any place family practitioners are working. While essential medical background is provided, McPhee's masterful approach to a trend significant to all of us is replete with affecting, and often amusing, stories about both doctors and their charges.