How To Become A General Practitioner: What It Is and Career Path

What is a general practitioner and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Janet Williams Ph.D.

A general practitioner is an individual that gives basic and regular medical assistance to patients within the society. You are in charge of analyzing patients, evaluating patient's results, and giving medication as needed. You also have to handle and oversee crews in surgical situations, comprising both stress and overall surgery.

As a practitioner, you will evaluate and treat the patient with various forms of illness from pediatric to geriatrics groups. Likewise, you are to analyze a range of clinical situations and ailments. This means you will conduct extensive examinations and indicate treatment strategies. You are also to give out urgent care for extreme conditions, carry out regular surgeries, and must report reportable ailments to administrative or government agencies.

As a general practitioner, you must have exceptional communication and organization skills. You must as well be kind to patients and pay great attention to details. Additionally, you need a doctoral degree in medicine, veterinary science, advanced dentistry, and oral science. Although, it can be alternated with a bachelor's degree depending on the employer. As a general practitioner, you will earn an average of $174,341 annually or $83.82 per hour.

What general advice would you give to a general practitioner?

Janet Williams Ph.D.

Professor of Biology, College of Our Lady of the Elms

Students who wish to continue their education in healthcare (MD, DO, DMD, DVM, PA, PT, OT, and many other areas), should ensure that they have plenty of experience in healthcare by becoming certified as an EMT or CNA, and spend at least 1-2 years working or volunteering in that capacity. Students should graduate with strong GPAs, over 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, and should have taken all of their prerequisite courses. Students should be prepared to take standardized admissions exams, and plan to do well in them.

ScoreGeneral PractitionerUS Average

Salary

9.5

Avg. Salary $172,831

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.17%

Asian 19.07%

Black or African American 5.23%

Hispanic or Latino 9.72%

Unknown 4.48%

White 61.33%

Gender

female 39.14%

male 60.86%

Age - 48

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 48

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.1

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a general practitioner

Explore general practitioner education requirements

Most common general practitioner degrees

Doctorate

49.8 %

Bachelor's

32.7 %

Master's

6.1 %

Start to develop specific general practitioner skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	31.51%
Diagnosis	6.89%
Internal Medicine	5.66%
Outpatient Clinic	5.36%
Emergency Room	4.97%

Complete relevant general practitioner training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 4-10 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New general practitioners learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a general practitioner based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real general practitioner resumes.

Research general practitioner duties and responsibilities

Shadow and note specific medical cases as well as participated in patient diagnosis and treatment plan discussions
Evaluate a variety of medical conditions and afflictions, including making comprehensive diagnosis and specifying treatment plans.
Serve as initial contact to hospital patients; conduct thorough patient assessments and coordinate referrals to appropriate physicians base on findings
Assist in major elective and emergency surgeries such as appendectomies, exploratory laparotomy, thyroid surgery, hysterectomy and cesarean operations.

Prepare your general practitioner resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your general practitioner resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a general practitioner resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable general practitioner resume templates

Build a professional general practitioner resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your general practitioner resume.