The emergence of the family practitioner: an historical analysis of a new specialty.

The family practitioner evolved as a specialist to replace the rapidly disappearing general practitioner. The lack of adequate postdoctoral medical education programs for general practitioners, the changing role of the general practitioner in relation to the specialist, and the lower status and different working conditions of the general practitioner compared with the specialist contributed to the decline of general practice. Those who attempted to develop the specialty of family practice actively sought to remedy the deficiencies of general practice by providing intellectually rigorous postgraduate programs, by providing a unique area of expertise, and by providing specialty status.