PREPARATION FOR GENERAL PRACTICE

There has long been a widespread recognition that completion of medical school work does not in itself constitute sufficient preparation for the practice of medicine. Perhaps the most noteworthy evidence of this fact is illustrated by the unanimous action of the graduates of 1952-1953, none of whom went into practice without further formal training.

Although in the past it has been customary for physicians to enter general practice after one year of internship, there is a growing realization that this no longer represents adequate preparation. Medical students interested in devoting their lives to the general practice of medicine and medical school faculties have both expressed this realization. Many physicians now in general practice concur in this observation, and the educational requirements necessary for continued membership in the American Academy of General Practice are at least an indirect acknowledgment of this need by an organized group of thoughtful participants in this