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About General Practitioners
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Overview
The term "general practitioner" is a common one and may refer to individuals working in a variety of fields, such as attorneys, hypnotists, therapists and even psychics. The more common use, however, is to refer to the traditional family doctor. The doctor who can do "anything" --making house calls with his little black medical bag in hand and a warm smile on his face.
Medicine and the delivery of health care have changed considerably since those days when doctors made house calls. Gone are the house calls and, to a large degree, the general practitioner. Instead, there is a field of medicine dominated by specialists. The "family doctor" still exists within the specialized field of family medicine but typically only acts as a "referring physician"--farming patients out to a variety of specialists for their health care needs.
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Description
A general practitioner (GP) is a medical doctor (MD) or doctor of osteopathic medicine (DO) whose practice consists of providing comprehensive general medical care and treatment to patients of all ages and both genders rather than focusing on a specific specialty. They are familiar with a wide range of medical conditions and issues, providing care for both acute and chronic conditions. A GP also offers health education, preventative care and medical advice to patients and is often a patients' first point of contact with the healthcare system.
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Creation of the GP
In the past, a GP was a physician who, after graduating medical school and completing a one-year rotating internship, entered practice under the supervision of a mentor who trained the new physician to provide care to his particular community. This mentor system allowed the physician to begin earning a living and raising a family much faster.
Today, GPs are created through a system of producing physicians with no way to board certify their competency. Physicians who have completed a year of internship training after graduating medical school but have not completed any residency training are legally allowed to practice medicine in their state of license and may enter practice as a general practitioner.
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History
Family medicine was formally recognized as a specialty in the United States in the 1970s. Prior to that time, the terms "general practitioner" and "family practice" were synonymous. Both terms referred to a doctor who completed medical school and a one-year rotating internship and then went to work as a "family doctor."
Medical practitioners who wish to specialize in "family medicine" must now complete residency training in family medicine and be eligible for board certification. A family practitioner is strictly licensed to practice family medicine and has completed three to four years of residency in family medicine.
After this change, many licensed family medicine practitioners began using the term "general practitioner" to distinguish those practitioners who did not complete a family medicine residency.
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A dying breed
Today, the number of general practitioners in active practice is on the decline. Many new physicians desire the increased prestige and earning potential of a specialist. The high cost of education and resultant debt burden facing the new physician has contributed to this trend. Additionally, many hospitals and health plans require member physicians to be board certified.
With limitations on practice and earning potential, the majority of medical students today graduate seeking residencies in high-paying specialties rather than practice as a GP. There is also a shortage of graduates entering into family practice, producing more physician assistants and nurse practitioners. These lower-cost providers now occupy the role of "first line" medical practitioner formerly reserved for the general practitioner.
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Misconceptions
Although fewer in number, many people continue to use a general practitioner as their primary care physician or "family doctor" and may be unaware of the differences between general practice and family practice physicians.
GPs may be competent to provide general medical care to you and your entire family, but they are not "family medicine" doctors. That designation is strictly reserved for physicians board certified in family medicine.
Each physician must be considered according to their own talents and merits, but it is important to avoid the misconception that a general practitioner and a family medicine doctor are "one in the same."
