INTRODUCTION In 2001, a Cochrane review of mammography screening questioned whether screening reduces breast cancer mortality, and a more comprehensive review in Lancet, also in 2001, reported considerable overdiagnosis and overtreatment. This led to a heated debate and a recent review of the evidence by UK experts intended to be independent. OBJECTIVE To explore if general medical and specia...

BACKGROUND Studies of clinical outcomes for generalist vs specialist care for diagnoses within a specialist's narrow domain have tended to favor specialty care. METHODS A MEDLINE search from January 1, 1980, through April 1, 2005, and a hand search of retrieved bibliographies of English-language studies that compared generalist vs specialist care for individual patients with a single discrete...

Abstract: Introduction: After the residency in Internal Medicine, most graduates choose to undergo a new selection process obtain second specialty. The phenomenon of early specialization is encouraged as undergraduate course. Despite this, demand for general practitioners growing. Objective: To investigate factors that lead newly graduated clinician undertake residency. Method: This cross-secti...

OBJECTIVE To assess the prevalence of unmet needs for routine and specialty care among children with special health care needs (CSHCN) and to identify factors associated with the likelihood of having unmet need for medical care. METHODS Data come from the respondents for 38 866 children interviewed for the National Survey of Children With Special Health Care Needs. Bivariate analyses were use...

BACKGROUND For biomedical research findings to contribute toward health gains they must reach clinicians. Academic journals have historically been considered important information sources. Birken and Parkin found seven journals to most consistently contain the best pediatric evidence and, of these seven, four were general medical journals. METHODS We surveyed clinicians in three UK medical sp...

The growth of specialty practice in the health professions is directly linked to advancements in medical science during the early 1900s. Although these advancements resulted in improved delivery of care, there was not yet a system in place to assure the public, not to mention the medical profession, that someone claiming to be a specialist was indeed qualified. The concept of a specialty board ...