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

What is a practitioner and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Debra Minsky-Kelly

General practitioners, also called family doctors, provide nonsurgical medical care for a wide range of health issues. They add a personal touch to health care by establishing ongoing relationships with their patients while providing a continuity of care. General practitioners examine patients for illness or injury and plan treatment in the form of medicine or therapies. In addition to prescribing medications and therapies, they often educate patients on preventative healthcare, including proper diet and exercise.

To be successful as a practitioner, you should have excellent active listening and communication skills. You'll need to effectively address patient concerns as well. You'll frequently work with other physicians and support to collaborate on diagnoses and perform procedures and make referrals to appropriate medical specialists. Training to become a general practitioner generally takes from seven to 15 years.

If you'd like to become a general practitioner, you'll need a Bachelor's degree, preferably in a relevant science field, four years in medical school, a three to seven-year residency, and certification by the American Board of Family Medicine, American Board of General Practice, or American Board of Internal Medicine.

What general advice would you give to a practitioner?

Debra Minsky-Kelly

Director of Field Education / Clinical Assistant Professor of Social Work, Carthage College

I think there are two critical skills for social workers, whether they are first entering the workforce or seasoned professionals. These skills are humility and an appreciation for ambiguity in our work. A humble approach to our work empowers clients to become experts on their circumstances. Social workers are then positioned in a collaborative role to help clients use existing skills and resources to improve their situations. An appreciation for ambiguity is closely related to the idea of humility. It helps us to remember that practice situations we face in this field are often far more complicated than they appear on the surface. Thus, all social workers need to make a strong commitment to lifelong learning and ongoing consultation with colleagues to ensure that multiple perspectives are included as we work to solve complex problems.

ScorePractitionerUS Average

Salary

6.6

Avg. Salary $84,058

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 40%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.32%

Asian 6.33%

Black or African American 4.66%

Hispanic or Latino 6.65%

Unknown 4.50%

White 77.54%

Gender

female 63.22%

male 36.78%

Age - 41

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 - 41

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

5.4

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a practitioner

Explore practitioner education requirements

Most common practitioner degrees

Bachelor's

51.3 %

Master's

26.1 %

Associate

8.0 %

Start to develop specific practitioner skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	27.86%
Patient Care	8.87%
Social Work	7.33%
Resuscitation	5.23%
Individual Therapy	4.08%

Complete relevant practitioner training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New 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 practitioner based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real practitioner resumes.

Research practitioner duties and responsibilities

Manage pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment of diabetes and provide prescriptions and education before discharge from the hospital.
Provide both in-home and office-base individual therapy to clients with mental illness.
Treat patients on a referral basis and establish active collaboration with veterinary specialists and general practitioners involve with patient care.
Provide counsel and representation for clients on various legal matters such as civil litigation and real estate and international business transactions.

Prepare your practitioner resume

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

Build a professional 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 practitioner resume.