Primary care medicine should be and is the bedrock of American healthcare. As a family physician and chairman of a department of family medicine at a medical school, I admit to being biased. Nonetheless, I am concerned that we are losing two essential bedrock elements of successful patient care: the biopsychosocial model of effective primary care and the concept of shared decision-making between clinician and patient. [CT Mirror & KFF Health News]

The term biopsychosocial speaks for itself. A good clinician must thoroughly understand and examine the patient’s biology to address any  concern, equally essential is respecting the patient’s psychological and emotional circumstances at the time of the clinical encounter and finally it’s essential to fully acknowledge the patient’s social structure and their economic, cultural, educational, occupational and living environment.

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