Biomedical subjects

D E Gannik

Publications and source records attributed to D E Gannik.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

[General practice adrift. Explosion of knowledge, technological development and population].

The explosion of biomedical research, and in turn, the far-reaching specialisation, which accompanies it, makes the health service field increasingly obscure and confusing. The general practitioner as gatekeeper occupies a central and much needed role in health care. Inherent this role are the professional core qualities of continuity, entirety, and a personal doctor-patient relationship, which ideally allow the GP to sort out and co-ordinate available services so that they suit the individual patient. These GP qualities also have the merit of making patients more content, they contribute to shared decision making, and they limit costs through more co-ordinated services. General practice today is faced with a dilemma. Increasing specialisation, consumerism, and liberalizsation threaten to eliminate the generalist role in health care, precisely at a time when it is most acutely needed.

Attitude to Health↗

PubMed1995

Situational disease.

The American sociologist Angelo Alonzo has put down the premises for a theory of illness behaviour based on an interactionist-situational framework. In this article I suggest that a disease concept of 'situational disease' based on this framework would be well suited for clinical work in general practice. The outlines of the theory is given and compared with a more traditional diagnostic model, especially with regard to consequences for treatment and research methods. I argue that there is a narrow relationship of disease models and research methodology and that e.g. a rigorous enforcement of the prevailing methodology of controlled clinical trials is liable to uphold an anachronistic disease model. Practice guidelines which originate from a situational understanding of disease should be encouraged and to this end general practice needs to develop a broad range of research methods suited to its distinctive professional role.

Clinical Trials as Topic↗