Chemistry--a scientific model for family medicine?

The academic basis of family medicine is currently undergoing reexamination. Some would have the specialty leave the academic arena and pursue a biopsychosocial mode of practice in the community. Others would have family medicine aggressively pursue academic research, apparently by abandoning the biopsychosocial approach to medical care. Chemistry as an academic discipline and as applied in community practice has solved many of the problems facing family medicine today. This paper suggests that one may learn much from chemistry. Four basic principles of applied science are presented from the point of view of a chemist: (1) science has an important but strictly limited contribution to make to medical practice; the humanistic goals of family medicine are philosophical decisions, and science is used to attain these goals; (2) observations are the basic reality of science; theory, to be useful, must explain and predict observations; (3) there is a basic unity in science; and (4) there is no hierarchy in scientific understanding. A model based on these four principles is presented that defines family medicine as the central, coordinating discipline in modern academic and community medical practice.