Mendenhall R C, Moynihan C J, Radecki S E
Med Care. 1984 Nov;22(11):987-1001. doi: 10.1097/00005650-198411000-00002.
Utilizing national data on patient care provided by family practitioners, general internists, and subspecialists in internal medicine, this study examines the complexity of care provided by generalist physicians versus subspecialty physicians on a disease-specific basis. Limiting the analysis to "principal care" provided by office-based physicians, the study finds the complexity of care provided by cardiologists for heart disease and by endocrinologists for diabetes mellitus to be somewhat greater than that provided by family practitioners and general internists, though the magnitude of the differences is not large. For chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, however, pulmonary disease specialists are shown to provide care that is substantially more complex than that provided by their generalist colleagues. For all disease and specialties, hospital care is substantially more complex than ambulatory care.
本研究利用家庭医生、普通内科医生和内科专科医生提供的全国患者护理数据，在特定疾病基础上考察了全科医生与专科医生所提供护理的复杂性。该研究将分析局限于门诊医生提供的“主要护理”，发现心脏病专家针对心脏病以及内分泌专家针对糖尿病所提供护理的复杂性，略高于家庭医生和普通内科医生所提供护理的复杂性，不过差异幅度不大。然而，对于慢性阻塞性肺疾病，肺病专科医生所提供的护理比其全科同行所提供的护理要复杂得多。对于所有疾病和专科来说，住院护理比门诊护理要复杂得多。
