Is Increasing Specialisation Counterproductive?

Abstract

All healthcare systems in the developed world face an increasing demand for healthcare and budgets that are finite. The grim reality is that there is little supportive evidence for many widely-used interventions. It is easier for the time-pressured doctor to write a prescription or defer to an investigation than take a full history, conduct an examination and make the best opportunity of the consultation to get to the root of the patient’s problem.
As many diseases are self-limiting, patients managed by this process do not automatically come to harm, but precious resource is wasted either on medication or investigation when a better-trained doctor, able to make a diagnosis and offer an informed explanation at the initial consultation, would be far superior.