REVISING THE DEFINITION OF THE GENERALIST PHYSICIAN

Although there has been growing recognition of the important role of g eneralist physicians in the United States, there has been insufficient discussion of who the generalists are and how their role is defined. Traditionally, generalists have been defined by their specialty, with physicians in family medicine, general internal medicine, and general pediatrics considered generalists. But this approach may not sufficien tly recognize the specific competencies and therefore the specific tra ining required of generalists. A new definition is based on the functi onal requirements of generalist practice and the central role that gen eralist physicians will play in comprehensive care. This definition ca n be used, first, to assure that medical education, both fundamental a nd continuing, provides generalists with these needed competencies and , second, to judge claims among different categories of physicians tha t they should be considered generalists.