National Academies Press: OpenBook
« Previous: Front Matter
Suggested Citation:"SUMMARY." Institute of Medicine. 1994. Defining Primary Care: An Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9153.
×

Summary

An Institute of Medicine committee has developed a definition of primary care as part of its 2-year study of the future of primary care. The study addresses the opportunities for and challenges of reorienting health care in this country to place greater emphasis on the function of primary care.

As a first step in the development of that strategy, this interim report describes the contemporary context of care, reviews earlier definitions of primary care, sets out the committee's critical assumption, and presents a definition of primary care that is intended to be useful to health care professionals, health plan developers, policymakers, educators of health professionals, and the public as they confront the rapid changes in health care that are now under way and are likely to continue for the next 5–10 years. The definition will also serve as a guide during the rest of the committee's study.

The provisional definition of primary care adopted by the IOM Committee on the Future of Primary Care follows:

Primary care is the provision of integrated, accessible health care services by clinicians who are accountable for addressing a large majority of personal health care needs, developing a sustained partnership with patients, and practicing in the context of family and community.

Suggested Citation:"SUMMARY." Institute of Medicine. 1994. Defining Primary Care: An Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9153.
×

Each term in the definition is summarized in a box on pages 16–17 and is explained in the text following the box. The definition is based on a 1978 IOM definition (IOM, 1978), but it stresses the importance of the patient-clinician relationship (a) as understood in the context of the patient's family and community and (b) as facilitated and augmented by teams and integrated delivery systems.

Suggested Citation:"SUMMARY." Institute of Medicine. 1994. Defining Primary Care: An Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9153.
×
Page 1
Suggested Citation:"SUMMARY." Institute of Medicine. 1994. Defining Primary Care: An Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9153.
×
Page 2
Next: INTRODUCTION »
Defining Primary Care: An Interim Report Get This Book
×
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!