BACKGROUND The economic impact of a family physician practicing family medicine in rural Alabama is $1,000,000 a year in economic benefit to the community. The economic benefit of those rural family physicians practicing obstetrics has not been studied. This study was designed to determine whether there was any added economic benefit of rural family physicians practicing obstetrics in rural, un...

BACKGROUND The general practice (GP) workforce in England is in crisis, with declining morale and job satisfaction, increasing early retirement and declining interest in training to become a GP. We recently reported on factors that are influencing this, with appraisal and revalidation emerging as an unexpected finding; 28.6 % of GPs stating an intention to leave general practice within the next...

As a hospital doctor, I rarely write about general practice unless it’s to defend, celebrate, or support it. Primary care is the engine room of the NHS and underpins its equity, efficiency, and access. But it’s underfunded, understaffed, and overstretched by rising demand. I’m breaking my “no primary care columns” rule and asking where GPs themselves think that UK general practice should go nex...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The number of US allopathic medical school graduates choosing a residency in family medicine has fallen from 13.4% in 1999 to 10.5% in 2002. Concern about declining numbers has led to the development of programs to provide medical students exposure to family medicine outside the clerkship. This paper reports on the development and longitudinal achievements of a clinica...

that emphasize primary care have better health status among The book reviewed in this issue of the Journal [1] epitomizes their populations than specialist-dominated systems [12–14]. the state of the art of quality measurement in general practice. Most currently available disease-specific quality indicators Currently available quality indicators are based on a mix do not capture the added value...

OBJECTIVE To explore general practice staff views of managing childhood obesity in primary care. DESIGN A qualitative study to elicit the views of clinical and non-clinical general practice staff on managing childhood obesity. SETTING Interviews were conducted at 30 general practices across England. These practices were interviewed as part of the Quality and Outcomes Framework Pilot Study. ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES This study was conducted to explore the hypothesis that negative comments from faculty and residents about family practice are related to the recent decline in student selection of this specialty. METHODS A questionnaire was sent to all family physicians and an equal number of other primary care physicians who graduated from one of 24 medical schools in 1997-1999. Tw...

BACKGROUND Remote general practice can be a highly rewarding career, but poses many personal and professional challenges. It is characterised by significant geographical, professional and social isolation and a requirement for practitioners with public health, emergency and extended clinical skills. The remote practitioner faces further challenges in the remote Aboriginal community setting, inc...