ABSTRACT
General practitioners (GPs) appear by nature to be individualists who value their autonomy and the ability to work out their own destinies. They can be intolerant of what they perceive as interference, and resent being told what to do. The authors were clear that, at least in the English language, the terms ‘generalist’ and ‘specialist’ were opposites, and this created problems. They commented that, in many European countries, GPs have needed to claim specialist status in order to achieve recognition as a separate discipline. The members of the royal college of GPs whom they surveyed believed that GPs should work to a bio (psycho) rather than a biopsychosocial model of healthcare. The authors of the editorial went on to point out that the focus of general practice is broad and involves integrating the complexity of medical care in the patients’ context – that ability to switch between different perspectives related to patients’ health problems.
