Abstract. The specialty of family medicine arose out of a combination of American public and pro-fessional concerns regarding fragmentation of health care and was intended to foster a type of physi-cian with a scope of clinical competence that would allow the patient, not the disease, to be the focus. Family physicians serve as the patient’s personal physician and provide entry to the health care system, provide comprehensive care, maintain continuing responsibility for the patient including necessary co-ordination of care and referral, and provide care appropriate to the patient’s physical, emotional, and social needs in the context of family and community. The specialty is currently second only to internal medicine in size, and makes a si...