20th Century Specialisation

could focus their teaching towards particular specialities. When medical education and research is more focused, it will lead to focused careers. At the start of the twentieth century, more and more of the younger generation begin to specialise. This is due to the teachings that were available to them and they themselves, began to specialise in particular areas. However, this was not the case for London. London had a high concentration of education available, like Paris, but other factors prevented the city from developing specialisation. These factors included the reluctance of the medical elite to recognise that specialisation would benefit medicine. This shows how the path to specialisation was different for France and Britain. Therefore, even though education did play a role in the development of

The production of knowledge that was being shared and produced was one path that allowed the specialisation of medicine to become so wide spread. Journals were an important form of communication of knowledge as they allowed medical practitioners to share with a wider community than previously. They were used to communicate new ideas, including, the debate surrounding the specialisation of medicine. This was important in Paris as many of the new scientific knowledge discovered there, was spread to other countries through the form of these journals. Many journals that supported specialisation often featured, first, an article arguing why specialisation of medicine was the most effective way to learn more. This shows that these journals were an important platform for people to debate on and thus, spread new thinking. This idea is reinforced in Germany where journals were used to debate the issue surrounding state health insurance. Since this debate