This is a greatly expanded successor to McWhinney's An Introduction to Family Medicine (Oxford, 1978). It includes much new material on the nature of family medicine and on specific clinical problems. There are two new chapters on the experience of illness, suffering, and healing and on doctor-patient communication. The chapter on the philosophical and scientific basis of family medicine has been expanded to do justice to the growing support which the paradigm of family medicine is receiving in the biological, medical, and social science literature. The chapter on clinical method--perhaps the book's core--has a new look and greater depth reflecting work in this area over the past decade. The chapter on prevention provides updated recommendations, and the chapter on the family has been enlarged. The most noticeable change is the addition of five new chapters on common family practice problems. These chapters have a dual purpose: to exemplify the application of principles discussed earlier in the book, and to distill the information on each problem that is most necessary for family physicians. This is an ideal text for medical students taking a family medicine rotation and for beginning residents in the field.

Ian R. McWhinney's profile page

Ian R. McWhinney, Professor, Department of Family Medicine, The University of Western Ontario.

From reviews of An Introduction to Family Medicine: "A concise, highly readable book. . .a lucid discussion of issues that are critical to all students and all physicans. There is no one interested in clinical medicine who cannot profit from reading it." --The New England Journal of Medicine

"Ian R. McWhinney is indisputably one of the great philosophers, chroniclers, and innovators of family medicine, and this book represents yet another high point in his remarkable career. . . . A Textbook of Family Medicine provides, in eminently readable form, the superb distillations of his life work. . . . McWhinney has managed to compact into fewer than 400 pages the heart and soul of family medicine . . . . The book is a refreshing and intellectually stimulating look at the discipline of family medicine, and reading it -- again and again -- will renew the faith of its proponents and teachers." -- Teaching and Learning in Medicine

"Presents a coherent, thoughtful, and easily understood description of a field that physicians in other specialties have difficulty understanding. It can be highly recommended."--Annals of Internal Medicine

"Presents a coherent, thoughtful, and easily understood description of a field that physicians in other specialties have difficulty understanding. It can be highly recommended." --Annals of Internal Medicine

"Instructive, thought-provoking and, as is usual with Dr. McWhinney's work, learnedly and lucidly written. . . .This book should be in all hospitals and possibly even practice libraries. . . .All will see and benefit from a fresh and reflective approach to the discipline of family medicine." --Canadian Family Physician

"Ian McWhinney is one of a handful of internationally recognized scholars in family medicine. Anything he writes is thoughtful, thought-provoking, and deserving of careful attention. He is the primary interpreter of the epidemiological-preventive medicine perspective in family medicine and has made a major contribution by publishing in a single, small volume, the most coherent and complete statement of that perspective....Recommended for every library devoted to family medicine and family practice."--Continuing Education for the Family Physician

"Anything [McWhinney] writes is thoughtful, thought-provoking, and deserving of careful attention. He is the primary interpreter of the epidemiological-preventive medicine perspective in family medicine and has made a major contribution by publishing in a single, small volume, the most coherent and complete statement of that perspective. . .recommended for every library devoted to family medicine and family practice." --Continuing Education for the Family Physician

"McWhinney provides a philosophical and scientific rationale for the generalist physician and develops a patient-centered clinical method for meeting the public's needs. With its enriching literary examples, this insightful and well written text is enjoyable to read." --Annals of Internal Medicine

"McWhinney writes from the perspective of a long practice experience, a long academic career, and in-depth knowledge of perinent work in the field. . .most people within the field, as well as many without, would find this a very useful and illuminating book. . .an original and useful overview of the field of family medicine." --Medical Care

"McWhinney's text is a revision and update of his earlier work. . . . His current work represents a significant expansion over his earlier volume. The text itself is organized into four parts; basic principles, clinical problems, the practice of family medicine, and education and research. Excellent tables and figures illustrate main points. . . . This text is an ideal book for third-year medical students on a family practice clerkship. . . . In conclusion this text provides the best description and analysis of family medicine's clinical methods to date and thus would be highly useful. . . " --Journal of Family Practice