History of FM
Family practice is the continuing and current expression of the historical medical practitioner. The first physicians were generalists who provided all of the medical care available for thousands of years. They diagnosed and treated illnesses, performed surgery and delivered babies. As medical knowledge expanded and technology advanced, many physicians chose to limit their practices to specific, defined areas of medicine. With World War II, the age of specialization began to flourish.
In the two decades following the war, the number of specialists and sub-specialists increased at a phenomenal rate while the number of general practitioners declined dramatically. The public became increasingly vocal about the fragmentation of their care and the shortage of personal physicians who could provide initial, continuing and comprehensive care. Thus began the reorientation of medicine back to personal, primary care. The concept of the generalist was reborn with the establishment of family practice as medicine's 20th specialty.