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Primary care physician skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Dr. Stephen Weeks,

Dr. Eric Ayars

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical primary care physician skills. We ranked the top skills for primary care physicians based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 25.0% of primary care physician resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a primary care physician needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 primary care physician skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how primary care physicians use patients:

Identified opportunities for improvement and worked with hospital staff/management to eliminate barriers physicians and their patients faced when accessing hospital services.
Attended to 6-8 complex patients per half-day session with medical conditions adversely affected by difficult social and psychological factors.

2. Internal Medicine

Here's how primary care physicians use internal medicine:

Practice focused on General Internal Medicine.
Take care of internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, psychiatry and minor surgical cases.

3. Family Practice

A family practice is a specialization that constitutes those comprehensive medical services provided to people corresponding to all age groups and genders. It includes healthcare coverage for all diseases whether chronic or acute. Apart from the clinical cures, the practice also includes therapy treatments. Family practice is delivered by physicians who are commonly referred to as family doctors.

Here's how primary care physicians use family practice:

Practiced all aspects of medical profession in a family practice environment.
Floated in family practice, OBGYN clinic, pediatrics, diabetic coaching and medication refill department.

4. Urgent Care

Urgent care provides assistance to patients on an immediate basis. Although the problems requiring this swift attention are not life threatening, if not seen to it immediately, they may become a bigger problem. Therefore, time plays a crucial role in such situations.

Here's how primary care physicians use urgent care:

Average Hours/Week: 40 As on-duty physician, participated in wide activities ranging from urgent care to continuity of care.
Provided patient care as a General Practitioner in ambulatory care and urgent care settings.

5. Pediatrics

Pediatrics is that branch of medicine that deals specifically with the well-being and health matters relating to infants, children, and teenagers entering into adulthood. People under the age of 18 are recommended to be under the care of a pediatrician instead of a normal doctor. However, this age limit is subject to vary in different countries. A professional of this medical branch is known as a pediatrician.

Here's how primary care physicians use pediatrics:

Practice included general medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics-gynecology, and minor surgery.
Directed daily administrative operations for Medical Staff Department and Developmental Pediatrics practices.

6. Patient Care

Patient care entails the diagnosis, recovery, and control of sickness as well as the maintenance of physical and emotional well-being through the use of healthcare providers' services. Patient care is described as services provided to patients by health practitioners or non-professionals under guidance.

Here's how primary care physicians use patient care:

Assist front office as needed with patient check in, patient care, payment and insurance verification.
Discussed patient care plans and how to maintain positive professional relationships with patients in difficult situations.

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7. EMR

Here's how primary care physicians use emr:

Worked with committees to help improve the EMR system, by contributing ideas such as creating templates for various medical conditions.
Project lead for on-boarding of newly acquired primary care Physicians and Mid-levels to integrate into St Vincent's Ambulatory EMR.

8. Medical Care

Here's how primary care physicians use medical care:

Provided General medical care including management of common diseases and providing routine checkups for chronic ones.
Interpreted X-ray and laboratory data for veterans seeking medical care.

9. Diagnosis

Here's how primary care physicians use diagnosis:

Performed preliminary diagnosis and treatment of common illnesses and medical conditions.
Ordered the needed laboratory procedures for comprehensive diagnosis.

10. Outpatient Clinic

Outpatient clinics are a part of a hospital and are set up for the purpose of treating outpatients - those who require treatment and diagnosis, but not a bed or overnight care.

Here's how primary care physicians use outpatient clinic:

Worked as a Primary Physician of patient's beneficiaries of the Health Insurance of the State in outpatient clinics.
Served full-time as a primary care physician in an adult outpatient clinic for a managed care organization.

11. Rehabilitation

Here's how primary care physicians use rehabilitation:

Coordinated work with nurses, social workers, rehabilitation therapists, pharmacists, psychologists, and other healthcare providers
Provided humanitarian services to the indigent and community outreach centers including drug and alcohol rehabilitation and tobacco cessation programs.

12. Medical Services

Here's how primary care physicians use medical services:

Developed, managed, and implemented superior clinical operating systems to promote quality, patient focused, cost effective medical services.
Provide medical services, equip, administer and maintain records for clinic serving the indigent.

13. Primary Care

Here's how primary care physicians use primary care:

Developed clinical skills and knowledge regarding primary care clinics.
Served as a primary care physician in the community-based clinic

14. Customer Service

Customer service is the process of offering assistance to all the current and potential customers -- answering questions, fixing problems, and providing excellent service. The main goal of customer service is to build a strong relationship with the customers so that they keep coming back for more business.

Here's how primary care physicians use customer service:

Oversee a staff of 12 in all areas of practice, including quality improvement, customer service and regulatory compliance.
Developed customer service, became familiar with medications, and money handling skills.

15. Diagnostic Tests

Here's how primary care physicians use diagnostic tests:

Order diagnostic test, interpret laboratory reports, and provide immunization to adult patient as appropriate.
Perform or indicate all required diagnostic test as well as medical treatment plan.

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What skills help Primary Care Physicians find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on primary care physician resumes?

Dr. Stephen Weeks

Professor, Chair of Biology, The University of Akron

Generally, employers like to see "hands-on" skills for graduates. So, lab-based classes, internships, volunteer work (e.g., in hospitals or other health care settings), and experience in research labs look great on resumes. Because biology is such a diverse field, I cannot point to specific skills for the entire range of biology. Generally, however, having good writing skills will almost certainly be helpful for any biology career.

What primary care physician skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Dr. Eric Ayars

Professor and Chair of Physics, California State University, Chico

Learn a programming language, if you don't know one already. I'd suggest Python as it's very useful as a general-purpose programming language, and it's easier to learn than most. The ability to make a computer do something for you that isn't already programmed by someone else can set you apart as a potential hire. Pick something that you do every day on the computer anyway, and learn enough Python to make the computer do it for you automatically. For example, I regularly read three to four webcomics, so I wrote a program that pulls the new comic from those pages every morning and combines them on one page for me, ready to go by the time my morning coffee is hot. In the process I learned some useful programming techniques, which I've since used professionally multiple times!

What type of skills will young primary care physicians need?

Melissa Matusek

Director of Marketing and Communications, American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons

When DPMs enter the workforce after residency, the skills needed are many. First, they must have flexibility since the landscape and job descriptions of the profession of foot and ankle surgery are constantly changing. Those just out of training also must be motivated because the first few years out of training is when the stakes are high, when you are spending your time building a practice to prove your worth to patients and the profession.

Plus, aside from continuing to develop surgical skills and learn about the medical management of patients, there is an ever-changing need for a deep understanding of how the business of medicine works. Physicians are entering different work environments that place a variety of demands on them. Patients are also becoming more and more fixated on the costs of their health to themselves and are relying more and more on insurance coverage. These topics and skillsets are beyond the general knowledge base of resident physicians. They also need to be well-versed and adept in the changes in healthcare and insurance/billing practices.

The American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons offers not the surgical skills courses needed for foot and ankle surgeons but also a coding and billing course to help practice management skills and show surgeons at all levels how to get paid for the services they perform.

What soft skills should all primary care physicians possess?

Youngmin Kim

Assistant Professor of Physics, Colorado Mesa University

CODING. CODING. CODING. It doesn't really matter which specific language it will be. On professional level, the coding language will be specific anyway, but any background experience in coding will help graduates to learn and adapt quickly. This is a must requirement for anybody willing to find jobs through the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Do you want to know more?

List of primary care physician skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a primary care physician resume and required skills for a primary care physician to have include:

Patients
Internal Medicine
Family Practice
Urgent Care
Pediatrics
Patient Care
EMR
Medical Care
Diagnosis
Outpatient Clinic
Rehabilitation
Medical Services
Primary Care
Customer Service
Diagnostic Tests
Home Health

Private Practice
Physical Examinations
Physician Assistants
Nursing Home
CPR
Inpatient Care
Health Maintenance
Patient Satisfaction
Diabetes
Allergies
Tuberculosis
Patient Education
Medical Practice
Phone Calls
Preventive Care
Test Results

EKG
Telemedicine
Taking Care
Discharge Planning
Health Education
Health Promotion
Disease Prevention
Medical History
Health History
Outpatient Care
Chronic Illnesses
Tertiary Care
Hypertension
Chronic Disease
Electrocardiogram

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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Primary Care Physician Skills

Updated January 8, 2025

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