BACKGROUND Patient-provider relationships in primary care are characterized by greater continuity and depth than in non-primary care specialties. We hypothesized that relationship styles of medical students based on attachment theory are associated with specialty choice factors and that such factors will mediate the association between relationship style and ultimately matching in a primary car...

OBJECTIVES This study compares the characteristics and performance of spine specialty hospitals versus other types of hospitals for inpatients with spinal diseases in South Korea. We also assessed the effect of the government's specialty hospital designation on hospital operating efficiency. SETTING We used data of 823 hospitals including 17 spine specialty hospitals in Korea. PARTICIPANTS ...

What is preventive medicine? Specifically, what is the specialty of preventive medicine, and how should it best be described? The specialty of preventive medicine is poorly understood, not only by the medical profession and the general public, but even among some of its practitioners. Currently, there is no unifying, vernacular explanation of the specialty of preventive medicine, to its detrime...