[Exploring the prospects for general practitioners over 55 years old from three counties of western France].

Objective: Medical demography and the practice of medicine will be influenced by the personal plans of GPs and their decisions to stop practicing in the coming years. This study aims to understand the events that could potentially worsen the medical demography in terms of shortages of GPs for primary care in the short term.

Method: 455 GPs (all aged over 55 years) practicing in three districts of western France were selected to participate in this prospective study.

[Early suspension of private practice: the current trends for general practitioners in three counties in western France].

The purpose of this study is to conduct a census of general practitioners in order to better understand their early withdrawal from primary care practice and to assess the impact of such withdrawal on current medical demography. The study covers the withdrawals from January 2000 to December 2005 in three western French counties. Data were collected through the district councils of the practitioners'guild, followed by a questionnaire filled in by 75 doctors.