'McWhinney's Textbook of Family Medicine' is one of the seminal texts in the field, defining the principles and practices of family medicine as a distinct field of practice. The fourth edition presents six new clinical chapters of common problems in family medicine.

This Second Edition of Family Medicine: Principles and Practice presents a scien tific approach to health and illness in the context of mankind's most enduring societal unit-the family. This is a new book, building on the strengths of the First Edition. The emphasis of this book, like that of the specialty itself, is on the clinical delivery of health care; that is, how the practitioner manages common problems and recognizes uncommon entities encountered in office, hospital, home, and nursing home. In the First Edition, we were faced with the problem of how to organize a family medicine textbook that dealt with clinical topics yet represented more than a series of essays on the specialties for the generalist reader. We began by identifying specific objectives, outlined in the preface to the First Edition. From this evolved an approach which has been called the biopsycho social perspective-inclusion of behavioral, family, social, and cultural aspects of health care integrated with the traditional "manifestations-and-manage ment" textbook model. The First Edition also introduced a comprehensive classification of clinical problems in family medicine now used in curriculum planning in many family practice residency programs.

This authoritative volume presents a the first major assessment of family medicine and its impact as a discipline in the United States since its founding in 1969. Under the senior editorship of Professor William Doherty, a nationally know leader in the field of family medicine and family social science, this exciting volume provides: An overview by G. Gayle Stephens, MD . . . . one of the founding fathers of family medicine The outsider's critique of family medicine by Edmond Pellegrino, MD . . . prominent internist and medical educator Achievements of family medicine and its potential in research reviews by key leaders Culpepper, Becker, Doherty, Baird, and Becker Is family medicine a genuine reform movement within medicine and society? Or is family medicine practiced by generalists who are out of step with the true specialization needed in today's medicine? Top authorities both inside and outside the specialty address the debate surrounding family medicine in the first truly balanced overview of this controversial branch of medicine. Family physicians discuss the challenges they face in family medicine and synthesize the existing theory and empirical knowledge on the topic. This valuable update on a growing specialization provides historical background as well as practical recommendations for the its future. The best people in the fields--family physicians and other medical specialists, as well as sociologists, anthropologists, and family social scientists--explore the major issues surrounding family medicine. How far has family medicine come in fulfilling its original mission? How has its mission changes? What are the field's principal achievements? Where has family medicine fallen short? What are the key challenges now facing the field? Among the specific issues discussed are family medicine and the predoctoral medicine curriculum, developmental assessment of family practice, polarities in the identity of family medicine, family medicine as a biopsychosocial discipline, family medicine from a consumer's perspective, and much more.