Family medicine (FM), formerly Family Practice (FP), is a medical specialty devoted to comprehensive health care for people of all ages; the specialist is named a family physician, family doctor, or formerly family practitioner. It is a division of primary care that provides continuing and comprehensive health care for the individual and family across all ages, genders, diseases, and parts of the body. It is based on knowledge of the patient in the context of the family and the community, emphasizing disease prevention and health promotion. According to the World Organization of Family Doctors (Wonca), the aim of family medicine is to provide personal, comprehensive and continuing care for the individual in the context of the family and the community. The issues of values underlying this practice are usually known as primary care ethics. In Europe the discipline is often referred to as general practice, emphasising its holistic nature rather as well as its roots in the family. Others refer to it as the classic GP, knowledgeable yet compassionate.
Read more about Family Medicine: Scope of Practice, Family Medicine in India
Famous quotes containing the words family and/or medicine:
“One theme links together these new proposals for family policy—the idea that the family is exceedingly durable. Changes in structure and function and individual roles are not to be confused with the collapse of the family. Families remain more important in the lives of children than other institutions. Family ties are stronger and more vital than many of us imagine in the perennial atmosphere of crisis surrounding the subject.”
—Joseph Featherstone (20th century)
“God isn’t compatible with machinery and scientific medicine and universal happiness. You must make your choice. Our civilization has chosen machinery and medicine and happiness.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)