[Physician's role in the society]. / El rol del médico en la sociedad.

The role that a physician must accomplish in the community must satisfy the hopes and requirements of the people. Actually, the physicians have a sporadic and occasional contact with their patients and preventive care is difficult. Medical care is dehumanized, impersonal and expensive. At the primary care level there are many patients and few physicians. This "system" is historically new since, formerly, physicians were general practitioners that provided an intuitive and comprehensive care. Medical education is performed with hospitalized patients; when these students start to practice their profession, they realize that, surprisingly, these subjects walk, talk and do not wear a pyjamas. The actual situation of medical profession is not the desired one and the community expects other roles for physicians. Medical education must be redesigned.