For the 30 years family practice has formally been accepted as a primary specialty, it has had a defined scope of practice that includes all conditions and both sexes. Pregnancy is among the most common conditions and is often the first involving young families with the health care system in a meaningful way. The medical literature and government reports have documented the importance of family...

No doubt there are as many reasons for becoming a family physician as there are family physicians. Some would say that they inherited the gene from their fathers or mothers, who were family physicians before them; it was their destiny. Some remember physicians who inspired them to pursue this path by setting a wonderful example: their own family physicians or the physicians who practised in the...

OBJECTIVE To explore conceptions of continuity of care among family physicians in traditional practices, family medicine-trained physicians working in episodic care, and family medicine residents to better understand the emotional effects on physicians of establishing long-term relationships with patients as a starting point for developing a tool to measure the qualitative connections between p...

OBJECTIVE To provide a self-described assessment of pediatricians' and family physicians' management of childhood depression. DESIGN Mail survey of 595 general pediatricians and 557 family physicians in North Carolina. RESULTS The response rate was 66%. Most primary care physicians used referral (65%) and counseling (61%) for management of childhood depression. Family physicians used medica...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether the original continuity of care framework is still applicable to family medicine today. DESIGN Qualitative descriptive study. SETTING Kingston, Ont. PARTICIPANTS Three groups of first-year family medicine residents (18 in total), 2 groups of family physicians in established comprehensive practices (9 in total), and 2 groups of family physicians working in ep...

OBJECTIVE To determine the knowledge, attitudes, and interest in providing medical abortion reported by family physicians and residents in rural and urban settings. DESIGN A self-administered mailed survey using the modified Dillman method. SETTING Hamilton and Thunder Bay County in Ontario. PARTICIPANTS Family medicine residents (n = 93) and physicians (n = 234) in predominantly urban (H...