Family medicine
-
Israeli family medicine provides an example of the accelerated development of a new discipline. This development occurred in a highly dynamic and rapidly growing society against a background of conflicting cultural traditions within the health care field. ⋯ Also, two major challenges for the future are examined: 1) the integration of preventive care into family practice, and 2) the exposure of primary care to competition from hospital-based specialists in an atmosphere of increasing commercialism. The Israeli experience forms a basis for comparison for family medicine in other countries.