HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Frist, T. H. B. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Frist, T. H. B.

Ann Thorac Surg 2001;71:1410-1414
© 2001 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

---

Thomas B. Ferguson Lecture

Public policy and the practicing physician

^a United States Senate, Washington, DC, USA

The first 300 words of the full text of this article appear below.

	The importance of a larger view

 
It’s a great honor to present the inaugural lecture in this series named for Dr Thomas B. Ferguson, a man who has always understood the profound and far-reaching implications of public policy on the practice of medicine, an understanding that was, in many ways, far ahead of its time.

Throughout his distinguished career, Dr Ferguson not only recognized the necessity of staying current in our changing world, but dedicated himself to making that necessity apparent to the cardiothoracic surgeon, challenging him to move beyond his traditional frame of reference—the basic and clinical sciences—to the larger world of technology, economics, ethics, and, of course, public policy, perhaps the most powerful external force impacting medicine today.

Happily, his efforts to educate his colleagues and urge them to action has borne fruit, as the many cutting edge initiatives of the STS so amply demonstrate. Not the least of these are the STS Foundation for Research and Education; the Professional Affairs Committee, that has been so active on issues in Washington; and the STS National Database, which has been at the forefront of data acquisition and analysis and is the only national data base pertinent to an entire specialty and developed voluntarily by the profession.

These purposeful connections to public policy are critically important because, more than any other single factor, public policy will define our future—what happens not only with the delivery of health care in general, but with the individual practices of each and every one of you, which is why understanding public policy is so important.

It is in that tradition, and with that purpose, that I speak to you today. Because, as I have learned quite directly, the need for your participation is greater today than ever before.

	Public policy in the founding era

 
But, as I have also learned, participation takes many forms.

In the . . . [Full Text of this Article]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. M. Matloff The practice of medicine in the year 2010: revisited in 2001 Ann. Thorac. Surg., October 1, 2001; 72(4): 1105 - 1112. [Full Text] [PDF]