Generalism in Clinical Practice and Education

Book excerpt: Generalism is a key approach to healthcare organisation and delivery that enables person-centred, dynamic and cost-effective patient care. With its emphasis on adaptability, generalism requires expansive, nurturing and personalised approaches to clinical education in which a generalist attends to and explores patient priorities when problem-setting and co-creating management plans. Generalism in Clinical Practice and Education outlines a generalist philosophy of practice which is brought to life through interleaved examples. Written by a range of international clinicians, patients and academics this book does not prescribe one ‘right’ way to do generalism. Rather, it seeks to inspire readers’ future engagement with generalism in practice and learning through sharing underpinning concepts, values and principles. This ‘big picture’ attention to generalism across public health, social determinants of health and clinical care is at the heart of sustainable and efficient use of resources to prioritise those in need. The book explores four key principles which in practice aim to achieve creative, inclusive and agile approaches to clinical care. The goal is to support generalism in clinical practice and education, and to produce clinical practitioners and learners that enjoy, embrace and enhance future clinical care.