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family medicine

 
Dictionary: family medicine
 
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n.

The branch of medicine that deals with provision of comprehensive health care to people regardless of age or sex while placing particular emphasis on the family unit. Also called family practice.


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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: family practice
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

Field of medicine that stresses comprehensive primary health care, emphasizing the family unit. Practitioners must be familiar to some degree with medical specialties and, especially in health maintenance organizations, are now often gatekeepers who refer patients to specialists when necessary. Once virtually the only kind of medicine, family practice has been defined as a separate field only since increasing specialization in medicine led to a shortage of practitioners. A 1963 World Health Organization report stressing the need for medical education to focus on the patient as a whole throughout life led to specific programs in family practice.

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Medical Dictionary: family medicine
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Home > Library > Health > Medical Dictionary

n.

The branch of medicine that deals with the provision of comprehensive health care to individuals regardless of age or sex while placing particular emphasis on the family unit. Also called family practice.

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Medical Dictionary. The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company.  Read more