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A general practitioner (GP) or family physician (FP) is a physician/medical doctor who provides primary care. A GP/FP treats acute and chronic illnesses, provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. Some also care for hospitalized patients, do minor surgery and/or obstetrics. The term family doctor is common in the United Kingdom, where the word "physician" is only used for certain specialists and not for GPs. Physician examining a child The word physician should not be confused with physicist, which means a scientist in the area of physics. ...
The word physician should not be confused with physicist, which means a scientist in the area of physics. ...
Primary care may be provided in community health centres. ...
A typical modern surgery operation For other meanings of the word, see Surgery (disambiguation) Surgery (from the Greek cheirourgia - lit. ...
Jump to: navigation, search Obstetrics (from the Latin obstare, to stand by) is the surgical specialty dealing with the care of a woman and her offspring during pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium (the period shortly after birth). ...
United States
In the United States, a General Practitioner has completed a one year internship required to obtain a medical license, after having received at least an undergraduate Baccalaureate Degree and a four year Doctor of Medicine (or in many US States a Doctor of Osteopathy) Degree. A Family Practice physician has completed a 3 year family medicine residency in addition to the undergraduate and doctoral studies, and is eligible for board certification now required by hospitals and health plans.
In the modern era, American Family Physicians consider being referred to as a "General Practitioner" or a "GP" as a somewhat demeaning and derogatory term, discounting their much more advanced training.
A Family Physician is board-certified in Family Medicine. Training is focused on treating an individual throughout their life stages. Family physicians complete undergraduate school, medical school and 3 more years of specialized medical residency training in Family Practice. Board Certified Family Physicians retake an 8 hour written examination every 6-7 years, as well as a case review of 20 patients from their recent practice, to remain certified. Three hundred hours of continuing medical education within the prior six years is also required to be eligible to sit for the exam. Jump to: navigation, search Medical school generally refers to a tertiary educational institution (or part of such an institution) which is involved in the education of future medical practitioners (medical doctors). ...
A medical residency is a post-graduate educational and clinical training program for physicians in the United States of America. ...
Between 2003 and 2009 this process will be changed in Family Medicine and all other American Specialty Boards to a continuous series of yearly competency tests on differing areas within the given specialty.
The American Board of Family Medicine, as well as other specialty boards, are requiring additional participation in continuous learning and self-assessment to enhance clinical knowledge, expertise, and skills. The Board has created a program called the Maintenance of Certification Program for Family Physicians (MC-FP) which will require family physicians to continuously demonstrate proficiency in four areas of clinical practice: professionalism, self assessment/lifelong learning, cognitive expertise and performance in practice. Certificates of Added Qualifications (CAQs) in Adolescent Medicine, Geriatric Medicine, or Sports Medicine are available for those physicians who meet additional training requirements. Jump to: navigation, search Adolescence is the transitional stage of development between childhood and full adulthood, representing the period of time during which a person is biologically adult but emotionally not at full maturity. ...
Geriatrics is the branch of medicine that focuses on health promotion and the prevention and treatment of disease and disability in later life. ...
Sports medicine or sport medicine is an interdisciplinary subspecialty of medicine which deals with the treatment and preventive care of athletes, both amateur and professional. ...
UK
 GPs in the United Kingdom may operate in community health centres. In the United Kingdom, doctors wishing to become GPs take at least 4 years training after medical school, which is usually an undergraduate course of five to six years (or a graduate course of four to six years), leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MB ChB): Download high resolution version (1760x1168, 487 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...
Download high resolution version (1760x1168, 487 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...
Medicinæ Baccalaureus & Baccalaureus Chirurgiæ (MB BChir or MB ChB or MBBS or variations thereof) are the two degrees awarded after a course in medicine at a university in the United Kingdom and other places following the British tradition. ...
- one year as a house officer (PRHO) (formerly called a houseman);
- two years as a senior house officer (SHO) - often on a General Practice Vocational Training Scheme (GP-VTS);
- one year as a general practice registrar.
At the end of the one year registrar post, the doctor must pass an examination in order to be allowed to practice independantly as a GP (Summative Assessment). This consists of a video of two hours of consultations with patients, an audit cycle completed during their registrar year, a multiple choice questionnaire (MCQ), and a standardised assessment of competencies by their trainer.
Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners is optional and can be awarded by examination, or by systematic assessment of an existing practitioner. After passing the exam or assessment, they are awarded the specialist qualification of MRCGP – Member of the Royal College of General Practitioners. General practitioners are not required to hold the MRCGP, but it is considered desirable. In addition, many hold qualifications such as the MRCP (Member of the Royal College of Physicians) and/or the DRCOG (Diploma of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists). Jump to: navigation, search Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) of the United Kingdom is obtained via a postgraduate medical exam involving both written and clinical examinations. ...
There are many arrangements under which general practitioners can work in the UK. While the main career aim is becoming a principal or partner in a GP surgery, many become salaried or non-principal GPs, work in hospitals in GP-led acute care units, or perform locum work. Whichever of these roles they fill the vast majority of GPs receive most of their income from the National Health Service (NHS). Principals and partners in GP surgeries are self-employed, but they have contractural arrangements with the NHS which give them considerable predictability of income. The logo of the NHS for England and Wales. ...
The MBChB medical degree is generally considered equivalent to the North American MD medical degree. Doctors educated in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and Great Britain have more ability to move between the countries than other national systems.
Visits to GP surgeries are free in the United Kingdom, but most adults of working age who are not on benefits have to pay a standard prescription charge for any medicines they are prescribed that are not available over the counter. See separate articles for over-the-counter trading and the medical condition Ornithine Transcarbamylase Deficiency. ...
Recent reforms to the NHS have included changing the GP contract. General Practitioners are now not required to work unsociable hours, and get paid to some extent according to their performance, e.g. numbers of patients treated, what treatments were administered, and the health of their catchment area. They are encouraged to prescribe medicines by their generic names. The system for assessing their income based on these criteria is called QMAS. A GP can expect to earn about 70,000 pounds a year without doing any overtime. The National Health Service (NHS) is the publicly-funded healthcare system of the United Kingdom. ...
QMAS is an IT system supporting the quality and outcomes framework for paying GPs in Great Britains NHS. It determines remuneration according to a range of criteria, including the number of patients that have had consultations, how they were treated, and the overall level of health in that surgery...
Spain In Spain the médico de familia/médico general commonly called médico de cabecera, works in multidisciplinary teams (pediatrics, nurses, social workers and others) on primary care centers.
After the graduation in Medicine (with a duration of 6 years), the medical doctors pass a National written exam called MIR (Internal Resident Doctor). The speciality devoted to primary care is "Family and Community Medicine Specialist".
To obtain it, the postgraduate students work during 4 years in primary care centers (2 years) and hospitals (2 years) as residents.
Some of the specialist in Family Practice in Spain are forced to work in other countries (mainly UK, Portugal and France) due to lack of stable work offers in the public health system.
France In France, the médecin généraliste (commonly called docteur) is responsible for the long term care in a population. This implies prevention, education, care of the diseases and traumas that do not require a specialist, and orientation towards a specialist when necessary. They also follow the severe diseases day-to-day (between the acute crises that require the intervention of a specialist). Jump to: navigation, search A disease is any abnormal condition of the body or mind that causes discomfort, dysfunction, or distress to the person affected or those in contact with the person. ...
Jump to: navigation, search In medicine, a trauma patient has suffered serious and life-threatening physical injury resulting in secondary complications such as shock, respiratory failure and death. ...
They have a role in the survey of epidemics, a legal role (constatation of traumas that can bring compensation, certificates for the practice of a sport, death certificate, certificate for hospitalisation without consent in case of mental incapacity), and a role in the emergency care (they can be called by the samu, the French EMS). They often go to a patient's home when the patient cannot come to the consulting room (especially in case of children or old people), and have to contribute to a night and week-end duty (although this was contested in a strike in 2002). An epidemic is generally a widespread disease that affects many individuals in a population. ...
Jump to: navigation, search Death is the cessation of physical life in a living organism or the state of the organism after that event. ...
Jump to: navigation, search Emergency medicine is a branch of medicine that is practiced in a hospital emergency department, in the field (in a modified form; see EMS), and other locations where initial medical treatment of illness takes place. ...
Emergency medical service (known by the acronym of EMS in the USA and Canada) is a branch of medicine that is performed in the field, pre-hospital, (i. ...
Jump to: navigation, search 2002 (MMII) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The studies consist of six years in the university (common to all medical specialties), and two years and a half as a junior practitioner (interne) :
- the first year (PCEM1, premier cycle d'études médicales, première année, often abbreviated to P1 by students) is common with the dentists (and, in some universities, with students of other paramedical professions like midwifery); the rank at the final competitive examination determines in which branch the student can go on;
- the following two years, called propédeutique, are dedicated to the fundamental sciences: anatomy, human physiology, biochemistry, bacteriology, statistics...
- the three following years are called externat and are dedicated to the study of clinical medicine; they end with a classifying examination, the rank determines in which specialty (the general medicine is one of them) the student can make his internat;
- the internat is two years and a half of initial professional experience under the responsibility of a senior; the interne can prescribe, he can make replace physicians, and usually works in an hospital.
This ends with a doctorate, a research work which usually consist of a statistical study of cases to propose a care strategy of a specific affection (in an epidemiological, diagnostical, or therapeutical point of view). Jump to: navigation, search Midwifery is a blanket term used to describe a number of different types of health practitioners, other than physicians, who provide prenatal care to expecting mothers, attend the birth of the infant and provide postpartum care to the mother and infant. ...
Anatomical drawing of the human muscles from the Encyclopédie. ...
Physiology (in Greek physis = nature and logos = word) is the study of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of living organisms. ...
Biochemistry is the chemistry of life, a bridge between biology and chemistry that studies how complex chemical reactions give rise to life. ...
Microbiology (in Greek micron = small and biologia = studying life) is the study of microorganisms, including unicellular (single-celled) eukaryotes and prokaryotes, fungi, and viruses. ...
Jump to: navigation, search Statistics is a type of data analysis which includes the planning, summarizing, and interpreting of observations of a system possibly followed by predicting or forecasting of future events based on a mathematical model of the system being observed. ...
Canada In Canada, there are no newly qualifying General Practitioners: all medical students go on to a specialty, Family Medicine being the most popular. Following four years in medical school, a resident will spend 2-3 years in an accredited Family Medicine program. At the end of this, residents are eligible to be examined for Certification in the College of Family Physicians of Canada *[1]. Many hospitals and health regions now require this Certification. To maintain their Certificate, doctors must document ongoing learning and upgrade activities to accumulate MainPro credits. Some doctors add an extra year of training in Emergency Medicine and can thus be additionally certified as CCFP(EM). Extra training in Anesthesia, Surgery and Obstetrics may also be recognised but this is not standardised across the country.
There is very little private Family Medicine practice in Canada. Most FP's are remunerated via their Provincial government health plans, via a variety of payment mechanisms, including fee-for-service, salaried positions, and alternate payment plans. There is increasing interest in the latter as a means to promote best practices within a managed economic environment. As standard office practice has become less financially viable in recent years, many FP's now pursue areas of special interest. In rural areas, the majority of FP's still provide a broad, well-rounded scope of practice. Manpower inequities in rural areas are now being addressed with some innovative training and inducement mechanisms.
Netherlands General practice in The Netherlands is considered fairly advanced. The huisarts (literally: "home doctor") administers all first-line care, and makes required referrals. Many have a specialist interest, e.g. in palliative care. The Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland) is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Dutch: Koninkrijk der Nederlanden). ...
Palliative care is any form of medical care or treatment that concentrates on reducing the severity of the symptoms of a disease or slows its progress rather than providing a cure. ...
Training consists of three years of specialisation after completion of internships.
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