Textbook of Family Medicine

Highly successful in its first two editions, McWhinney's Textbook of Family Medicine is one of the seminal texts in the field. While many family medicine texts simply cover the disorders a practitioner might see in clinical practice (thus they become watered-down internal medicine texts), McWhinney defines the principles and practices of family medicine as a separate and distinct field of practice. His initial sections cover the basis principles and philosophies of family medicine and a later section discusses the approach to the patients with common diseases encountered in practice (these discussions not only address these clinical problems, but each is a workshop for incorporating what it means to be a family physician into everyday practice). The new edition is updated throughout with help from a group of reviewers and a new coauthor, Tom Freeman, who is Chairman of the Department of Family Medicine at McWhinney's institution, the University of Western Ontario.

Part I
Basic Principles
1: The Origins of Family Medicine
2: Principles of Family Medicine
3: Illness in the Community
4: A Profile of Family Practice
5: Philosophical and Scientific Foundations of Family Medicine
6: Illness, Suffering, and Healing
7: Doctor-Patient Communication
8: Clinical Method
9: The Enhancement of Health and Prevention of Disease
10: The Family in Health and Disease
Part II
Clinical Problems
11: Acute Sore Throat
12: Headache
13: Fatigue
14: Hypertension
15: Diabetes
Part III
The Practice of Family Medicine
16: Home Care
17: Records
18: Consultation and Referral
19: The Health Professions
20: The Community Service Network
21: Alternative, or Complementary Medicine
22: Practice Management
Part IV
Education and Research
23: Continuing Self-Education
24: Research in Family Practice