Table 1.

The practice of family medicine

Subthemes	Contexts
Family medicine as focused on human patient–physician relationship vs. technology	Personal
	“[…] patients always go to the same physician, and I like it because this facilitates a very close relationship with patients… a family physician is even involved in people's lives, in their problems, apart from the pathology they can suffer from.” (2nd)*
	“I think that it is maybe just this [patient-physician relationship] what one does in primary care.” (6th)**
	Academic
	“I get into Medicine thinking “I like treating people”, and… during your medical studies, a vision of the discipline as super-technological is transmitted. Then, it is possible that one becomes the more and more prone to that side.” (2nd)
	Health care system
	“Family medicine is not technological at all. The only thing they have is a computer for health medical records. The rest implies touching, auscultation, questions, percussion, and that is. I think that, with regard to technology, there is no more than the stethoscope and the computer … OK, they see X-ray, but these have been sent by the radiologist, and they come informed.” (2nd)
	Societal
	“[…] As medical advances are more common in specialties, a family physician's room for work becomes much more limited when dealing with patients, making diagnosis and a lot of times referrals. Some time ago, the family physician was the doctor who also applied a treatment. It was the typical image of the physician working in a village, or even in cities with only a single hospital…” (6th)
Family medicine practice as superficial, repetitive, and with lack of intellectual challenge	Personal
	“When you finish your academic training, you want to be in an emergency room…in an active place, and to be a family physician is when you are more tired, when you have already worked and want to be more quiet.” (2nd)
	“I do not want to be studying so long only to prescribe drugs during my entire life.” (6th)
	Health care system
	“[…] issues that more pull back people are… the day-to-day work life you could expect being a family physician… 5 min per patient, 50 patients, and that one day, and another day… we are talking about that fact we should have a close relationship with patients, but of course, what kind of close relationship could be that in which you have only 5 min to make a diagnosis for a particular patient?” (2nd)
	“You know, for me, between seeing colds every day and seeing strokes every day, I prefer seeing strokes… Maybe you just see the same things, and every day is the same, but… the variety of symptoms that a cold can present… it seems more exciting one thing than the other one.” (2nd)
	Societal
	“I think family medicine is very focused on the elderly, who have flu, bone aches… even they go there [primary care facility] to take it out on the doctor… to do not stay at home… my grandfather has lunch with his friends, goes to the doctor, this is part of his routine.” (2nd)
	“When you finish your academic training, you want to be in an emergency room…in an active place, and to be a family physician is when you are more tired, when you have already worked and want to be more quiet.” (2nd)
Family physicians’ loss of social role	Societal
	“[…] The change in the role has also had an influence… In the past, the physician was more paternalistic. People used to say “everything must be decided by the doctor”, and nowadays this is not the case. One always try to get patients involved in the decision-making process, and sometimes, this has led to the patient thinks she or he knows more than the physician… And sometimes also that patients do not respect the doctor. This was unthinkable in the past because the patient was aware of his ignorance, and used to say to the doctor “Whatever you will decide”…” (6th)
	“[…]and also the information is more accessible now by Internet, and people think that going onto the web and they know more than the physician…” (2nd)

^*2nd year medical student.

^**6th year medical student.