[General medicine--a specialty in its own right (author's transl)].

The daily tasks of a general practitioner as they are laid down in the professional regulations and substantiated in the subsequent performance justifies the recognition of general practice as a special field of medicine in its own right which should be represented in teaching and research. In contrast to some neighboring countries, here in the Federal Republic of Germany the development is still in its early stages, which in the interest of the matter, especially of the patients and their families, should be overcome as quickly as possible.