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Patient or consumer? Implications for family physicians.

Canada has the opportunity to plan its health care delivery systems. The role of the family doctor is at the least uncertain. But, more important, are present modes of operation and education relevant for the current task? If not, increasing pressures will be brought to bear by governments, locally elected officials and most of all by patients turned consumers of service. This article discusses the role, nationally and internationally, of the family doctor and also that of the patient as consumer. The author makes suggestions for areas of research.