There are two kinds of textbooks: those that aim to cover a fi eld of knowledge
and those that aim to defi ne and conceptualize it. This book is of the second
kind. Most textbooks in clinical disciplines are structured in accordance with the
conventional system for classifying diseases. A family medicine text that adopts
this structure faces two diffi culties. Family physicians encounter clinical problems
before they have been classifi ed into disease categories. In principle, family
physicians are available for any type of problem. There is thus no disease, however
rare, that may not be encountered in family practice. If a text tries to cover
the whole fi eld, it risks becoming a watered-down textbook of internal medicine.
More seriously, family medicine differs from most other disciplines in such fundamental
ways that the conventional structure, though used in family medicine
when appropriate, is at a variance with the organismic thinking that is natural to
our discipline.
The third edition breaks new ground by having two authors. Professor Ian
McWhinney, who was author of the fi rst two editions of this textbook, graduated
from Cambridge University in 1949 and entered practice in Stratford-on-Avon
after internships in St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, and a year of internal
medicine at Warwick Hospital. In 1968, he became the fi rst professor of Family
Medicine at The University of Western Ontario. Thomas Freeman, professor
of the Department of Family Medicine at the Schulich School of Medicine and
Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario, graduated from The University of
Western Ontario in 1976 and completed training in family medicine at Dalhousie
University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. After practicing in Woodstock Ontario for
11 years, he became a full-time member of the Department of Family Medicine
at Western in 1989.
The long time that McWhinney and Freeman have worked together and the
closeness of their views on family medicine have played an important part in
There are two kinds of textbooks: those that aim to cover a fi eld of knowledge
and those that aim to defi ne and conceptualize it. This book is of the second
kind. Most textbooks in clinical disciplines are structured in accordance with the
conventional system for classifying diseases. A family medicine text that adopts
this structure faces two diffi culties. Family physicians encounter clinical problems
before they have been classifi ed into disease categories. In principle, family
physicians are available for any type of problem. There is thus no disease, however
rare, that may not be encountered in family practice. If a text tries to cover
the whole fi eld, it risks becoming a watered-down textbook of internal medicine.
More seriously, family medicine differs from most other disciplines in such fundamental
ways that the conventional structure, though used in family medicine
when appropriate, is at a variance with the organismic thinking that is natural to
our discipline.
The third edition breaks new ground by having two authors. Professor Ian
McWhinney, who was author of the fi rst two editions of this textbook, graduated
from Cambridge University in 1949 and entered practice in Stratford-on-Avon
after internships in St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, and a year of internal
medicine at Warwick Hospital. In 1968, he became the fi rst professor of Family
Medicine at The University of Western Ontario. Thomas Freeman, professor
of the Department of Family Medicine at the Schulich School of Medicine and
Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario, graduated from The University of
Western Ontario in 1976 and completed training in family medicine at Dalhousie
University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. After practicing in Woodstock Ontario for
11 years, he became a full-time member of the Department of Family Medicine
at Western in 1989.
The long time that McWhinney and Freeman have worked together and the
closeness of their views on family medicine have played an important part in
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