Family Medicine refers to a medical specialist that focuses on offering health care to an individual and its family. It is to provide comprehensive health care to people of all ages and sexes and includes all the organ systems and covers all the diseases. The family medicine specialists, also called family physicians, are contacted initially for health concerns as they are capable to address most of the healthcare needs. These family physicians have all the required knowledge of the family members, thus, protecting them from various diseases. They also emphasize health promotion among the community members and give better health outcomes.
Family Medicine incorporates knowledge, skills and process and is often termed as the three-dimensional specialty of General Medicine.
It is based on the relationship between a patient and the physician, with the patient being referred to as the family. Through this ever-lasting relationship, family physicians are able to help patients in the understanding, prevention and management of illness and set goals for them for their healthy well-being. The family physicians and its staff make changes to their treatment methodology based on the unique needs and convenience of their patients. They store large amounts of data regularly and use that information for monitoring the history of illness. Then, they manage that data and use the best available technology to provide health care services to the patient.
What is The Duty of Family Physician?
The family physicians have lots of responsibilities as the patient totally depends on them during emergency health concerns. Apart from them, some of the important duties of a family physician are given below.
- The family doctors offer individualized and specialized counselling to the patients for helping them live a healthy lifestyle
- They give immunizations as and when needed and prescribe various tests pertaining to the health condition
- The family doctors provide various screening tests and then diagnose and treat diseases accordingly
- They perform health-risk assessments and different wellness exams to get information about a patient’s health condition
- They analyze the data collected and then evaluate for creating a personalized treatment program
- During the entire treatment program, they monitor the condition and make changes in that program for best and quick results
- The family physicians also diagnose and treat chronic health conditions and if needed, coordinate with particular specialists for treatment
- They are also responsible for collecting and maintaining the patient’s information that includes medical history and treatment and other test results
There are many similarities between primary care specialists and family doctors; however, the family physicians get many opportunities to positively impact an individual’s health for a long period of time. They are trained in a wide range of medical disciplines such as obstetrics, pediatrics, gynecology, internal medicine, etc. They work as a team and remove the barriers to care, thereby improving the communication between medical providers and patients. They are best leaders of an effective healthcare system and efficient partners of public health. It is evident that the primary health care providers are vital to a more efficient system of healthcare delivery.
