PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Loren H. Amundson
AU  - H. Bruce Vogt
TI  - The Consultant Family Physician
AID  - 10.3122/jabfm.2.1.34
DP  - 1989 Jan 01
TA  - The Journal of the American Board of Family
                Practice
PG  - 34--36
VI  - 2
IP  - 1
4099  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/2/1/34.short
4100  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/2/1/34.full
SO  - J Am Board Fam Med1989 Jan 01; 2
AB  - Family physicians frequently consult and refer to other specialists, both generalist and subspecialist. Less commonly has the family physician been used as a consultant. A randomized questionnaire survey of family physicians in five midwestern states was used to consider the frequency and reasons for other specialists collaborating with the family physician as a consultant. Fifty percent of the respondents consult and refer to as well as receive consultations/referrals from other family physicians. Thirty-five percent of the respondents receive consultations and referrals from other generalist specialists, and 28 percent receive theirs from subspecialists. Most often these occur because the patient has no family physician, but family physicians are also used for their procedural skills and coordination of patient evaluation and management, including preoperative evaluation of patients. This study confirms that the consultant family physician is an important part of the health care team. (J Am Bd Fam Pract 1989; 2:34-6.)