A family and general practitioner is a doctor who is essentially what most people think of as being a “family doctor.” The family and general practitioner is the doctor that most Americans go to get the drugs that they don’t need to fix problems that they don’t really have. Also the family and general practitioner is the doctor that people visit when they get colds and flu’s that won’t go away because they have destroyed their immune systems with ridiculously poor diets, loaded with chemicals, additives and fat. 

 

While working a career in medicine, as a family and general practitioner, it is your job to evaluate and maintain the overall health of an increasingly unhealthy and willfully unhealthy patient base. Would-be family and general practitioners should realize going into the profession that it has changed in recent decades. Patients are aging, unhealthy, out of shape, fat and have little interest in taking charge of their own health. They have seen hundreds of adds for medication. In fact, many patients will see you as a giant walking, talking pill dispenser. 

 

If your career planning or job search is leading you to consider careers in medicine, and more specifically, becoming a family and general practitioner, you better like fat people and old people of all shapes and sizes. You also better like lots of visits from pharmaceutical sales representatives looking to give you stress relief balls and other worthless trinkets. Increasingly, all family practitioners and general practitioners are worried about the time they spend doing paperwork for insurance companies. Most feel that this impacts their own financial bottom line and the quality of care that their patients receive.

The reason that careers in medicine, and the job outlook for family and general practitioner is above average is obvious due to the overall physical health of the nation’s citizens. On average, family and general practitioners can expect to see about a fourteen percent increase in their numbers by 2016. By 2016, the United States is expected to have about 723,000 physicians and surgeons. This is a 90,000 increase over the 2006 number.

The average workday for a family and general practitioner can vary more than for other doctors. This is most due to the fact that a family and general practitioner will see patients with a wide range of problems and complaints. Many family and general practitioners spend the bulk of their days evaluating patients with a nearly infinite array of symptoms that they then refer to specialist in a given field.

There are many different job opportunities for people exploring careers in medicine. The average family and general practitioner can expect to earn about $156,000 with a few years of experience. This salary, while healthy, is only about half of what a surgeon or anesthesiologist earns.

Those interested in a career in medicine, as a family and general practitioner will have to graduate from medical school. Certification for the filed is also required.