[Plea for internal medicine. Views of a sociologist and an internal medicine physician on the future of internal medicine].
In France the internal medicine was born at the end of the 1950s and developed as a speciality like others in the 1960s. Nevertheless, it could now be considered as facing a specific crossroad. The evolution of a broad and holistic understanding of medicine has been weakened for years by the parallel outcome of growing and multi-specialisation. In the same time, the way to consider our welfare state changed into an overwhelming necessity of cost-efficiency, of evidence based knowledge and costs, regarded as new and compulsory rules. The process of specialisation has been reinforced by these recent trends. Could we and should we carry on like that without asking the sense and the attempted light at the end of the way? Are the internist and general practitioner definitely over? Specialists everywhere and nothing else? Which and who could make sense and priorities facing the growing complexity? The authors wanted to assess the new role of internal medicine as the most relevant way to manage both progress and sense in medical care and development.
Boinet
J-P
JP
IRISSO, Paris IX Dauphine, centre hospitalier de Blois, place du Maréchal-de-Lattre-de-Tassigny, 75775 Paris cedex 16, France. boinetjp@ch-blois.fr
Pierru
F
F
D005602:France; D058006:General Practice / Q000639:trends; D058005:General Practitioners; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000639:trends*; D019359:Knowledge; D008511:Medicine; D010820:Physicians; D012961:Sociology