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Evidence-based Knowledge Synthesis and Hypothesis Validation: Navigating Biomedical Knowledge Bases via Explainable AI and Agentic Systems

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Generalism as a cross-disciplinary practice in medicine: Mixed-studies systematic review

Martina Ann Kelly¹, Sarah Cheung², Agalya Ramanathan³

¹Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health Sciences in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary in Alberta.

Canadian Family Physician Medecin De Famille Canadien

|January 14, 2026

Abstract

Objective:

To clarify who generalist physicians are and what characterizes their practice.

Data Sources:

MEDLINE, PsycInfo, SocINDEX, Embase, Ovid HealthSTAR, Scopus, and Web of Science.

Study Selection:

Empirical studies (quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods) that described the attributes of generalist physicians across various disciplines in the clinical literature.

Synthesis:

A total of 262 studies from 25 countries met inclusion criteria. Forty-seven percent of studies lacked essential participant information. The remaining studies primarily framed generalism in terms of an absence of specialist training, reflecting a "deficit model" of care. We identified 4 archetypes of generalist practice: broad-based knowledge, generalism as adaptive expertise, generalism as integrative expertise, and generalism as interpretive expertise.

Conclusion:

Generalism lacks a consistent meaning across clinical disciplines in medicine. Four archetypes of practice are proposed to promote cross-disciplinary dialogue and guide the design of future health care systems and professional roles.

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