What does an family practice md do?
A family practice MD is responsible for monitoring and diagnosing patients' conditions of all ages. Family practice MDs identify the patients' medical histories and administer treatment plans and medications. They also coordinate with other medical professionals for further laboratory examinations. A family practice MD must have excellent communication and extensive knowledge of the medical industry to identify the best treatment methods for the patients. Family practice MDs keep an organized record of medical charts for reference and reports.
Family practice md responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real family practice md resumes:
- Manage conditions including diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, hypothyroidism, asthma, and GERD.
- Perform history and physical exams of patients requiring primary care services including preventative, acute and chronic disease management.
- Provide complete primary, preventative and integrative care to patients including simple in-office procedures as appropriate.
- Experience with electronic medical records and the coordination and distribution of professional documents in accordance to HIPAA regulations.
- Train and manage new interns/ volunteers assisting with the evidence-based hypertension management program.
Family practice md skills and personality traits
We calculated that 34% of Family Practice MDs are proficient in Patients, Family Practice, and Primary Care. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Compassion, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Family Practice MDs that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 34%
Provide counseling to patient/families regarding upcoming medical tests/procedures and patients' current medication regimen.
- Family Practice, 22%
Offered, in additional to traditional family practice, nutritional/biochemical medicine, herbal medicine and homeopathic therapeutics.
- Primary Care, 16%
Provide patient education, Facilitate follow up appointment to primary care physicians.
- EMR, 12%
Provided additional help scanning medical records into a new EMR system.
- Internal Medicine, 3%
Arranged for appropriate consultations with specialist providers and performed Internal Medicine consultations at the request of specialist providers.
- Patient Care, 3%
Assist one MD as well as a PA in ensuring optimal patient care and smooth daily functioning of office.
Most family practice mds use their skills in "patients," "family practice," and "primary care" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential family practice md responsibilities here:
Communication skills. The most essential soft skill for an family practice md to carry out their responsibilities is communication skills. This skill is important for the role because "physicians and surgeons need to be excellent communicators." Additionally, an family practice md resume shows how their duties depend on communication skills: "implemented a system for staff communication that ensures proper implementation of treatment plans for comprehensive patient care. "
Compassion. Another essential skill to perform family practice md duties is compassion. Family practice mds responsibilities require that "patients who are sick or injured may be in extreme pain or distress." Family practice mds also use compassion in their role according to a real resume snippet: "provided outstanding and compassionate patient care with gained knowledge and experience in nearly every imaginable setting possible. "
Detail oriented. This is an important skill for family practice mds to perform their duties. For an example of how family practice md responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "patients must receive appropriate treatment and medications." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of an family practice md: "observed/assisted 400+ school physicals or problem oriented exams for pediatric patients in a spanish population".
Dexterity. A big part of what family practice mds do relies on "dexterity." You can see how essential it is to family practice md responsibilities because "physicians and surgeons may work with very precise and sometimes sharp tools, and mistakes can have serious consequences." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical family practice md tasks: "scrubbed multiple hospital procedures (facelifts, liposuction, augmentations, facial reconstructive surgery, breast reconstructive surgery. )"
Leadership skills. A commonly-found skill in family practice md job descriptions, "leadership skills" is essential to what family practice mds do. Family practice md responsibilities rely on this skill because "physicians who work in their own practice must manage a staff of other professionals." You can also see how family practice md duties rely on leadership skills in this resume example: "general surgery with dr. richard guttman at cleveland clinic wooster leadership"
Organizational skills. Another skill commonly found on family practice md job descriptions is "organizational skills." It can come up quite often in family practice md duties, since "good recordkeeping and other organizational skills are critical in both medical and business settings." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day family practice md responsibilities: "practice management related: developed and implemented organizational policies, procedures, methods and standards for the medical practice. "
The three companies that hire the most family practice mds are:
- The Medicus Firm
12 family practice mds jobs
- HealthTrust5 family practice mds jobs
- Gundersen Lutheran Medical Foundation Inc.4 family practice mds jobs
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Compare different family practice mds
Family practice md vs. Doctor
A doctor is a medical expert who diagnoses and treats illnesses and injuries, often specializing in particular areas. Their responsibilities revolve around conducting initial interviews and examinations, studying a patient's medical history and laboratory results, providing consultations and care advice, prescribing medication, and referring patients to specialists when necessary. They must also coordinate and maintain an active communication line with nurses, administrators, and technicians for a smooth workflow. Moreover, a doctor must educate patients about their health conditions, helping them understand their situation better.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between family practice mds and doctor. For instance, family practice md responsibilities require skills such as "nursing home," "gyn," "injections," and "chronic disease." Whereas a doctor is skilled in "customer service," "emergency medicine," "surgery," and "dr." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Doctors tend to make the most money working in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $178,767. In contrast, family practice mds make the biggest average salary, $207,373, in the professional industry.doctors tend to reach similar levels of education than family practice mds. In fact, doctors are 3.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 18.1% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Family practice md vs. Md
A Doctor of Medicine or MD is the designation of a person who completed medical education. Generally, MDs focus on the treatment of conditions in need of medication. These doctors do health assessments, prescribe medication, run diagnostic tests, treat patients, and offer health and wellness advice. Among their health specialties are in the areas of neurology, gynecology, and dermatology. They may also perform surgery when necessary. All these are made possible with their knowledge and skills in medicine.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, family practice md responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "primary care," "nursing home," "gyn," and "injections." Meanwhile, an md has duties that require skills in areas such as "customer service," "surgery," "tuberculosis," and "medical procedures." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
In general, mds achieve similar levels of education than family practice mds. They're 2.0% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 18.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for family practice mds in the next 3-5 years?
Janet Williams Ph.D.
Professor of Biology, College of Our Lady of the Elms
Possibly, a little further out, will be genome sequencing to determine health risks for patients. It might even be able to prescribe lifestyle and nutrition best-practices for individuals, based on their genetics.
Family practice md vs. Physician
Physicians' general responsibility is to check, diagnose, and treat a patient's condition to improve their overall wellness. A physician could be General Practitioners or Specialist Physicians, wherein General Practitioners are physicians who provide regular checkups for patients depending on their needs and refer them to a Specialist Physicians who are more skilled in a particular field of expertise for a thorough diagnosis. Physicians monitor a patient's medical history and ensure follow-up checkups to observe if the condition of a patient is changing over time. A physician may refer a patient to other health professionals for further examination as needed.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from family practice md resumes include skills like "gyn," "exam rooms," "injections," and "chronic disease," whereas a physician is more likely to list skills in "surgery," "rehabilitation," "urgent care," and "emergency medicine. "
Physicians earn the highest salary when working in the health care industry, where they receive an average salary of $169,042. Comparatively, family practice mds have the highest earning potential in the professional industry, with an average salary of $207,373.physicians typically earn similar educational levels compared to family practice mds. Specifically, they're 2.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 12.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Family practice md vs. In-house physician
An In-House Physician is in charge of providing health care services to diagnose and treat the medical conditions of patients within a community or organization. Their responsibilities typically include providing consultations, conducting various tests and examinations, studying a patient's medical history, prescribing medication, developing care and treatment plans, and referring patients to other specialists when necessary. They must also monitor the patients regularly and help them feel comfortable every step of the way. In-House Physicians must maintain an active communication line with nurses and other health care experts for a smooth and efficient workflow.
Types of family practice md
Updated January 8, 2025
