BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES In 2010, six ministries of the Chinese government jointly issued a plan for building team-based primary care led by family physicians, prompting the creation of new models of family medicine training across the country. The purpose of this paper is to describe examples of existing family physician training models in China, to present advantages and disadvantages of the...

A 55-year-old woman with widely metastatic breast cancer was admitted to your intensive care unit (ICU) because of a decreased level of consciousness and respiratory failure. She had documented cerebral and meningeal metastases that were progressing despite chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The admitting physician met with her family and suggested a palliative approach, making them very upset. The...

Mr K is an 89-year-old married man with a number of comorbid conditions and multiple recent falls. He was referred to the IMPACT clinic (Interprofessional Model of Practice for Aging and Complex Treatments) as his primary care physician was concerned about his declining health and the growing care giver burden on his wife. Mr K's condition was deteriorating while the complexity of his case was ...

I expect from the patient again and again the same attitude which he has sho·wn in accordance with his life-plan toward the persons of his former environment, and still earlier toward his family. At the moment of the introduction to the physician and often even earlier, the patient has the same feelings toward him as toward important persons in general. The assumption that the transference of s...

BACKGROUND International comparisons of health care systems have shown a relationship at the macro level between a well-structured primary health care plan and lower total health care costs.The objective of this study was to assess whether provider continuity with a family physician is related to lower health care costs using the individual patient as the unit of analysis. METHODS We undertook ...

PURPOSE Health care needs of adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer are probably different from other age groups. Studying their non-oncology physician visits in the first years after diagnosis may provide insight into the specific health problems AYA patients experience and thereby help to improve care for these patients. METHODS Seven hundred seventy-four AYAs identified from a Can...

BACKGROUND Children diagnosed with cancer often require extensive care for medical, psychosocial and educational problems during and after therapy. Part of this care is provided by family physicians and non-cancer specialists, but their involvement in the first years after diagnosis has barely been studied. Studying non-oncology physician visits may provide insight into the roles of different h...