Primary Care Oral History Collection

The collection consists of 62 oral histories of primary care physicians in America and Britain by Fitzhugh Mullan, M.D. The project was undertaken to document the lives and work of individuals contributing to the interdisciplinary realm of primary health care delivery. Mullan intended to write a book on the subject using these interviews as a primary source. The subjects were selected by Mullan using his personal network of contacts, attempting to achieve geographic, gender, ethnic and disciplinary balance. While not a truly scientific "sample frame," Mullan's contacts provided recommendations for potential interviewees in each area of the country he visited. Mullan then pared down the list according to his own judgment.

A poorly understood, yet often debated area of medical practice, primary care professionals are drawn from family practice, general practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, and the ranks of nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Partly misunderstood because of its interdisciplinary nature, it also suffers from a lack of spokespersons that are often associated with specialty oriented disciplines.