Family Medicine as a Medical Specialty: Perception from other Specialists

Abstract

Objective: to identify perception that Gynecology and Obstetrics, General Surgery, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics specialists have regarding a Family Medicine specialist. Methods: descriptive, cross-sectional and observational study. To identify the perception of medical specialists from different areas about Family Medicine it was designed an instrument through 13 open and closed questions. A explicitly and demonstrative narrative was made from the obtained results. 50 medical specialists from two hospitals in the State of Mexico were interviewed, and a questionnaire about the perception they had about Family Medicine as a medical specialty was applied. Results: three factors were identified: most of the physicians had no contact with Family Medicine during undergraduate; most of them thought that family physicians were dedicated to preventive medicine; and none of those interviewed would have preferred to specialize in Family Medicine. Conclusions: while the undergraduate training does not change, the perception that other specialists have on Family Medicine will not change either.