Rethinking general practice for the 21st century. The patient counts!


Author: Joachim P Sturmberg1, Carmel Martin, Leon Piterman

Affiliation: <sup>1</sup> Department of General Practice, Monash University, Victoria. achim.sturmberg@iname.com
Conference/Journal: Aust Fam Physician
Date published: 2003 Dec 1
Other:
 Volume ID: 32   ,  Issue ID: 12   ,  Pages: 1028-31   ,  Word Count: 96  
    Background:

Increasingly, reforms to health care systems appear to interfere with the traditional (healer) role of the general practitioner, and are perceived to disrupt patient care and the therapeutic relationship.



Objective:

To outline measures for the survival and future development of the discipline of general practice in Australia.



Discussion:

In order to preserve longitudinal relationship centred care and high level primary care clinical expertise, health bureaucracies and general practice itself, must re-focus care on the individual and community, integrating new developments rather than allowing 'new ideas and system pressures' to continually distort functional general practice.





PMID: 14708156