The history of physical medicine and rehabilitation as recorded in the diary of Dr. Frank Krusen: Part 3. Consolidating the position (1948-1953).

Abstract

This article is a continuation of the story of the struggle to win recognition of physical medicine and rehabilitation as a medical specialty, as told in the pages of a daily diary kept by Frank H. Krusen, MD, from 1943 through 1967. The first two articles described Dr. Krusen's professional development before 1943, his efforts to establish a certifying Board for physiatrists, and the role of the Baruch Committee on Physical Medicine in Krusen's eventual successes. This article focuses on how Krusen and his physiatric colleagues campaigned to gain acceptance by organized medicine of the new specialty, to unite the fields of physical medicine and rehabilitation, and to identify and maintain the scope of physiatric practice despite challenges from other specialties.