What does a primary care physician do?
A Primary Care Physician is responsible for providing regular medical care for their patients. They provide personal assistance, medical attention, and emotional support to others, such as coworkers, customers, and patients.
Primary care physician responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real primary care physician resumes:
- Full spectrum of family medicine, including obstetrics, pediatrics and inpatient medicine.
- Maintain renewal for physicians' licenses, DEA certificates, ACLS certifications and CME records.
- Attend ICU patient care rounds with the medical team.
- Display technical proficiency in using NaturaeSoft electronic medical record (EMR).
- Provide on-site, immediate response for all hospital emergencies following ACLS protocols.
- Enter prescriptions on computer, giving injections, filing charting information in patient chart.
- Lead physician with diverse patient panel from newborns, pediatrics, women's health and geriatrics.
- General medicine consultations, pediatrics, gynecology, infectious disease, water sanitation, and waste evacuation.
- Verify demographics, schedule mammograms, ultrasounds, breast examinations, cancer/benign consults, and MRI procedures.
- Coordinate work with nurses, social workers, rehabilitation therapists, pharmacists, psychologists, and other healthcare providers
- Involve in care plan meetings, which deal with diabetes, behavior health, cancer screening and complex care.
- Design and implement a minor surgery room and cardiac room complete with appropriate equipment resulting in higher quality patient care.
- Work with committees to help improve the EMR system, by contributing ideas such as creating templates for various medical conditions.
- Organize presentations for elderly patients in local senior center to educate about age-relate health issues.
- Identify opportunities for improvement and work with hospital staff/management to eliminate barriers physicians and their patients face when accessing hospital services.
Primary care physician skills and personality traits
We calculated that 25% of Primary Care Physicians are proficient in Patients, Internal Medicine, and Family Practice. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Compassion, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Primary Care Physicians that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 25%
Identified opportunities for improvement and worked with hospital staff/management to eliminate barriers physicians and their patients faced when accessing hospital services.
- Internal Medicine, 14%
Practice focused on General Internal Medicine.
- Family Practice, 11%
Practiced all aspects of medical profession in a family practice environment.
- Urgent Care, 8%
Average Hours/Week: 40 As on-duty physician, participated in wide activities ranging from urgent care to continuity of care.
- Pediatrics, 7%
Practice included general medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics-gynecology, and minor surgery.
- Patient Care, 6%
Assist front office as needed with patient check in, patient care, payment and insurance verification.
"patients," "internal medicine," and "family practice" are among the most common skills that primary care physicians use at work. You can find even more primary care physician responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a primary care physician to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "physicians and surgeons need to be excellent communicators." Primary care physicians often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "initiate and maintain communication with agency staff, medical teams, patients, and families. "
Compassion. Many primary care physician duties rely on compassion. "patients who are sick or injured may be in extreme pain or distress," so a primary care physician will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways primary care physician responsibilities rely on compassion: "provided compassionate emergency medicine services to patients and their families. "
Detail oriented. primary care physicians are also known for detail oriented, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to primary care physician responsibilities, because "patients must receive appropriate treatment and medications." A primary care physician resume example shows how detail oriented is used in the workplace: "provided detailed referral systems to tertiary care facilities assisted in surgical procedures in urgent care settings. "
Dexterity. primary care physician responsibilities often require "dexterity." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "physicians and surgeons may work with very precise and sometimes sharp tools, and mistakes can have serious consequences." This resume example shows what primary care physicians do with dexterity on a typical day: "administered screening tests, provided vaccinations and ensured health education through hands-on family planning, lifestyle modification and community-based childcare. "
Leadership skills. A commonly-found skill in primary care physician job descriptions, "leadership skills" is essential to what primary care physicians do. Primary care physician 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 primary care physician duties rely on leadership skills in this resume example: "provided goal-driven patient care and strategic team leadership for a primary care office with multiple physicians and mid-level providers. "
Organizational skills. Lastly, "organizational skills" is an important element of what a primary care physician does. Primary care physician responsibilities require this skill because "good recordkeeping and other organizational skills are critical in both medical and business settings." This resume example highlights how primary care physician duties rely on this skill: "practice management related: developed and implemented organizational policies, procedures, methods and standards for the medical practice. "
The three companies that hire the most primary care physicians are:
- UnitedHealth Group289 primary care physicians jobs
- Carbon Health106 primary care physicians jobs
- One Medical91 primary care physicians jobs
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Compare different primary care physicians
Primary care physician vs. General practitioner
A General Practitioner provides primary and continuing medical care for patients within their community. They are responsible for diagnosing patients, checking patients results, and providing treatment as required.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, primary care physician responsibilities require skills like "family practice," "urgent care," "pediatrics," and "emr." Meanwhile a typical general practitioner has skills in areas such as "emergency room," "oral surgery," "physical exams," and "administer medications." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
General practitioners tend to make the most money working in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $154,946. In contrast, primary care physicians make the biggest average salary, $202,734, in the insurance industry.general practitioners tend to reach similar levels of education than primary care physicians. In fact, general practitioners are 0.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 10.1% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Primary care physician vs. Family practitioner
Family practitioners are medical professionals who are responsible for providing care for an entire family in small and rural communities. By using their knowledge in the medical profession, these doctors are required to diagnose and treat a variety of medical issues while referring patients to an appropriate specialist if medical problems are outside their range of practice. They must participate in well-care visits with their patients to monitor the development of their health as well as perform routine tests such as cholesterol tests and blood pressure readings. Family practitioners must also help women give birth to a child.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, primary care physician responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "patient care," "emr," "outpatient clinic," and "medical services." Meanwhile, a family practitioner has duties that require skills in areas such as "family medicine," "gyn," "direct patient care," and "hiv." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
On average, family practitioners earn a lower salary than primary care physicians. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, family practitioners earn the most pay in the health care industry with an average salary of $159,527. Whereas primary care physicians have higher pay in the insurance industry, with an average salary of $202,734.In general, family practitioners achieve higher levels of education than primary care physicians. They're 12.3% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 10.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for primary care physicians 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.
Primary care physician vs. Medical doctor
A Medical Doctor, also known as a physician, is a healthcare professional who diagnoses and treats patients from injuries and illnesses. As a Medical Doctor, your day-to-day duties will typically include assessing a patient's symptoms, prescribing and administering treatment to patients, and providing follow-up medical care to patients. You will be responsible for interpreting patients' laboratory results and referring them to other providers when needed. Also, you will need to work closely with other healthcare professionals and promote health education.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a primary care physician is likely to be skilled in "urgent care," "pediatrics," "outpatient clinic," and "rehabilitation," while a typical medical doctor is skilled in "emergency medicine," "emergency room," "surgery," and "medical treatment."
Medical doctors make a very good living in the transportation industry with an average annual salary of $180,010. On the other hand, primary care physicians are paid the highest salary in the insurance industry, with average annual pay of $202,734.Most medical doctors achieve a similar degree level compared to primary care physicians. For example, they're 1.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 16.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Primary care physician vs. Family practice md
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.
Types of primary care physician
Updated January 8, 2025
