Introduction

There are currently several medical specialties; this creates confusion about the field of action of each of them. The work of an otolaryngologist and head and neck surgeon is wrongly limited to diseases of the ears, nose, and throat.

Objective

To examine the perception that general practitioners, medical specialists and the general population have of the diseases that a certain specialist solves.

Materials and methods

This is a descriptive study in which a survey was applied to general practitioners, residents and to the general population of the Hospital Español de México.

Results

A total of 146 surveys was obtained. All the respondents-except general surgery residents-, 106 (72.6%), consider otolaryngologists and head and neck surgeons experts only in functional nasal and aesthetic surgery.

Conclusions

The opinions obtained from the surveyed population differ greatly from each other and evidently show that, in general, there is no clear knowledge of the field of action of our specialty, which results in a delay in effective medical care and patient protection.