[Political issues in internal medicine in Europe. A position paper].
What will be the future of internal medicine in Europe? Because of rapidly growing concerns regarding the position of internal medicine in many European countries, the European Federation of Internal Medicine (EFIM) has established a working group to analyze the situation. Being well aware of the variation in working practices in the different countries, the members of the group used an "all-European" approach to answer the following questions: Are there problems for internal medicine? If so, what are these problems and why? Why do the health care systems in the European countries need internal medicine? Why do patients need internal medicine? What needs to be done? Internal medicine is the modern, clinical, and scientific medical discipline that is responsible for the care of adult patients with one or more complex, acute, or chronic illnesses. Internal medicine is the cornerstone of an integrated health care delivery service that is needed today. Decision-makers in politics and hospitals, insurers, journalists, and the general public need a better understanding of what internal medicine can offer to the health care system and to the individual patient.
Bauer
Werner
W
Katedra i Klinika Chorób Wewnetrznych i Reumatologii Slaskiej Akademii Medycznej, Katowice. werner.bauer@hin.ch
Schumm-Draeger
Petra-Maria
PM
Koebberling
Johannes
J
Gjoerup
Thomas
T
Alegria
Jose Javier Garcia
JJ
Ferreira
Faustino
F
Higgens
Clare
C
Kramer
Mark
M
Licata
Giuseppe
G
Mittelman
Moshe
M
O'Hare
James
J
Unal
Serhat
S
D000328:Adult; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000639:trends*; D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated / Q000639:trends; D005060:Europe; D005194:Family Practice / Q000639:trends; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000639:trends*; D008511:Medicine; D011057:Politics; D012955:Societies, Medical / Q000639:trends*; D013038:Specialization