(From: McWhinney I. R., 1997. A Textbook of Family Medicine, Oxford University Press, New York)
In describing family medicine, it is best to start with the principles that govern our actions. I will describe nine of them. None is unique to family medicine. Not all family physicians exemplify all nine. Nevertheless, when taken together, they do rep resent a distinctive worldview, a system of values and an approach to problems, that is identifiably different from that of other disciplines.
- Family physicians are committed to the person rather than to a particular body of knowledge, group of diseases, or special technique.
- The family physician seeks to understand the context of the illness.
- The family physician sees every contact with his patients as an opportunity for prevention or health education.
- The family physician views his or her practice as a "population at risk"
- The family physician sees himself or herself as part of a communitywide network of supportive and health care agencies.
- Ideally, family physicians should share the same habitat as their patients.
- The family physician sees patients in their homes.
- The family physician attaches importance to the subjective aspects of medicine.
- The family physician is a manager of resources.