Attitudes to primary-care gynaecology among family physicians and gynaecologists in Israel

A postal questionnaire was sent to a random sample of Israeli gynaecologists and family physicians to study their attitudes to primary care gynaecology. The gynaecologists (n = 50) tended to think that family physicians should not be involved at all, except for adolescent sex education. The family physicians (n = 60) thought that they should be managing menstrual disorders, vaginal discharges, family planning counselling, prescription of oral contraceptives, insertion of intrauterine devices, routine antenatal and postnatal care, sexually transmitted diseases, breast examinations, and menopausal counselling. Both professions agreed that high risk pregnancies, hospital deliveries, infertility, and PAP smears were in the gynaecologists' domain. The younger family physicians and those in rural practice held these views more strongly than their older colleagues in urban practice. The results are discussed in the light of the patients' and the doctors' diverse interests.