General practitioners generally act as a family's primary doctor.
General practitioners are also known as family doctors, according to CollegeBoard.com. If you’re thinking about becoming a general practitioner you need to spend years studying and training, keeping up with advances in medicine, giving patients bad news from time to time and balancing heavy workloads with family life. Self-motivated, compassionate individuals who love helping people often think about becoming a doctor or general practitioner. Working as a general practitioner also pays extremely well.
Responsibilities
The main job of a general practitioner is to diagnose diseases and perform general checkups. If a patient has a common disease, such as the flu, general practitioners can prescribe medicine without referring an individual to a specialist. If general practitioners can’t fix a problem, it’s their responsibility to refer a patient to a specialist, according to CollegeBoard.com. The office of a general practitioner usually provides patients with vaccines for diseases. General practitioners can also provide patients with diet recommendations to treat conditions such as diabetes, blood pressure and weight problems.
Considerations
General practitioners are often a family or patient’s main doctor, according to CollegeBoard.com. As of 2010, approximately one-third of doctors are general practitioners, according to StateUniversity.com. The other two-thirds of doctors are specialists working in specific fields of medicine.
Outlook
Economists project job growth for doctors and expect employment for doctors to grow much faster than normal jobs through to 2018, according to CollegeBoard.com. The growing and aging population in the United States will create more of a demand for doctors throughout the country.
Education
To become a general practitioner, individuals must first obtain a bachelor’s degree in a science such as biology or chemistry before applying for medical school, according to StateUniversity.com. The majority of medical colleges have four-year programs that lead to medicine degrees. Some medical schools combine medical school with undergraduate school and last a total of six years. After that, doctors must complete an internship and residency at a hospital that lasts about three years.
Salary
General practitioners earned an average income of $161,490 in 2008, according to CollegeBoard.com. The salary range for general practitioners ranges from $120,175 to $168,311 in 2010, according to PayScale.com. General practitioners usually open a private practice or join the practice of another doctor after completing medical school. Some general practitioners work in hospitals.
Quick Fact
In 2008, approximately 43 percent of doctors worked over 50 hours per week, according to CollegeBoard.com.
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