General practitioner

A general practitioner (GP) or family physician is a doctor who is a consultant in general practice.

GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care, whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk associated with the continuous care they provide. GPs work at the heart of their communities, striving to provide comprehensive and equitable care for everyone, taking into account their health care needs, stage of life and background. GPs work in, connect with and lead multidisciplinary teams that care for people and their families, respecting the context in which they live, aiming to ensure all of their physical health and mental health needs are met. They are trained to treat patients to levels of complexity that vary between countries. The term "primary care physician" is used in the United States.^[1]

A core element in general practice is continuity of care, that bridges episodes of various illnesses over time. Greater continuity with a general practitioner has been shown to reduce the need for out-of-hours services and acute hospital admittance. Continuous care by the same general practitioner has been found to reduce mortality.^[2]

The role of a GP varies between and within countries, and is often dependent on local needs and circumstances. In urban areas their roles may focus on:

• care of chronic/complex health conditions
• treatment of urgent/acute non-life-threatening diseases
• mental health care
• preventive care, including health education and immunisation.
• screening/early detection of disease
• palliative care
• care coordination/referral to allied health professions or specialised medical care

In rural areas, a GP may additionally be routinely involved in pre-hospital emergency care, the delivery of babies, community hospital care and performing low-complexity surgical procedures.^[3][4] GPs may work in larger primary care centers where they provide care within a multidisciplinary healthcare team, while in other cases GPs may work as sole practitioners or in smaller practices.

The term general practitioner or GP is common in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Australia, Canada, Singapore, South Africa, New Zealand and other Commonwealth countries. In these countries, the word "physician" is largely reserved for medical specialists often working in hospitals, notably in internal medicine. In North America the term is sometimes synonymous with the terms family doctor or primary care physician.

General practice is an academic and scientific discipline with its own educational content, research, evidence base and clinical activity. Historically, the role of a GP was performed by any doctor with qualifications from a medical school working in the community. However, since the 1950s, general practice has become a medical specialty with additional training requirements.^[5][6][7][8] The 1978 Alma Ata Declaration set the intellectual foundation of primary care and general practice.