title: [Professional debate on shortage of physicians].
abstract: We do not know the best answer to problems due to shortage of physicians (absolute number and by specialities) but perhaps what is important is the lack of a professional debate about what means 'to be' a physician. In this paper we address four key professional questions: 1/ the over-training of physicians when health demand now includes minor problems, 2/ predominance of physician-patient direct encounters in a world of telecommunications and indirect encounters, 3/ the need to delegate power and responsibilities to other health professionals as a consequence of new technology developments and changes in role-design, and 4/ too much emphasis in diagnosis with the danger to initiate cascades with its side-effects. Practical answers to these questions require changes in pre and postgraduate education, improvement in health services organization to profit the use of telecommunications and analysis and re-design of the limits in between professions, levels of care, institutions and health and social sectors.
authors.affiliation: Equipo CESCA, Travesía de la Playa, 3 Buitrago del Lozoya 28730, Madrid. jgervasc@meditex.es
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gérvas
authors.forename: Julio
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bonis
mesh_terms: D003933:Diagnosis; D005544:Forecasting; D006296:Health Services; D006801:Humans; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D013030:Spain; D013685:Telecommunications / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000078329:Workforce