What is Family Medicine?
Doctors who practise family medicine treat patients of all ages. These generalists diagnose and treat chronic illnesses, assess symptoms, provide preventative care, and advise patients when they need to see a specialist. Family practise doctors frequently work alone or with a group of other family practise doctors in private offices. They also work in hospital settings and community medical clinics. Many family doctors treat disadvantaged populations in locations with inadequate community services, high levels of illiteracy, and significant levels of poverty.
What does a Family Medicine Doctor do?
In community health settings, family physicians provide a wide range of services. Routine examinations, including well-baby and child visits, health risk assessments, immunizations (including vaccines), screening tests, healthy lifestyle counselling, and treatment of common chronic illnesses are among the treatments they provide. Sports medicine, emergency and urgent care, and public health are among areas where family practice doctors can specialise. Doctors provide general care and, when necessary, collaborate with experts.
Why Would You Visit A Family Medicine Doctor?
Chronic disease management
Diabetes, high blood pressure (hypertension), renal disease, heart disease, high cholesterol, arthritis, skin disorders, and breathing problems caused by asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are among the chronic diseases and conditions that family medicine practitioners can treat and monitor (COPD).
They can also prescribe prescription refills for chronic diseases, liaising with specialists as needed.
Referrals to medical specialists
A visit to a family medicine doctor is frequently a smart place to start if you have a problem that may require a specialist, such as a heart condition. Your primary care physician can refer you to suitable specialists. When you start therapy with a specialist, the doctors can collaborate on your prescriptions and keep track of your progress.
To qualify for speciality coverage, several insurance policies require a referral to a specialist from a family physician or internist.
Care for illness or injury
When you or a family member is sick or wounded, a family medicine doctor may often manage the problem without referring you to a specialist. Simple fractures and sprains, flu and cold symptoms, pneumonia and bronchitis, stomach viruses, seasonal allergies, ear infections, and so on are all examples of simple fractures and sprains.
Routine exams
Annual physicals, newborn and well-child checkups, sports physicals, men’s health screenings, including prostate exams, and female pelvic exams, including annual pap smears, are all standard tests performed by family medicine practitioners.
As you can see, family medicine doctors are nothing to look down on. They offer a wide range of services that may very well be the very thing that saves you. So if you’re interested in practising medicine in the future, sign up for a family medicine training course in Malaysia right now.
