Medical education and the family physician.

The family health care specialist is a physician who through continuity of care has developed a tenured relationship with the family. He accepts the family as the unit of care and actively promotes its health. In the past one could become a family physician through experience gained in the general practice of medicine or pediatrics. While many practitioners, internists and pediatricians have become good family doctors, none have been specifically trained for this role. It is the responsibility of the family physician to provide continuing and comprehensive family health care. Health concern can be divided into demands for which the patient seeks care and needs of which the individual or family is largely unaware. The degree of "comprehensiveness" is the extent to which the needs as well as the demand are met. The role of the family physician is to be a specialist in family health care and a generalist in the provision of primary medical care.