Patients often use the terms General Practitioner, Doctor, and Physician interchangeably; however, there are distinctions between the three terms. A General Practitioner provides primary care to patients regarding acute or chronic illnesses: often, these practitioners seek to prevent health issues. A Doctor can be a person who holds a Doctorate or a person who practices medicine. The terms Doctor and Physician can often be used interchangeably. A Physician is specifically defined as a medical specialist, often of internal medicine. They seek to diagnose complex medical issues for adults. In most cases, a physician will choose an area of specialization.
The qualifications for a Physician are quite arduous and lengthy. Although General Practitioners discontinue school after an Undergraduate from a medical school, physicians continue with a residency program and fellowship. During a residency program, medical doctors will study under the supervision of senior physicians for three to seven years. The Fellowship program provides additional training of up to three years for a sub-specialty like psychiatry or gastronomy. After all of this education, a physician must obtain a license that allows him or her to practice medicine in the state where he or she intends to practice.
The requirements to become a physician are intensely rigorous. With that being said, patients should be able to feel at ease in the physician’s office because of this intense training. General Practitioners often refer patients who have puzzling internal symptoms that are beyond the scope of the practitioner’s knowledge. For example, a physician can be a cardiologist, endocrinologist, allergist, or neurologist. Respectively, the physician would specialize in heart diseases, hormone or gland disorders including diabetes, diseases of the immune system, and nervous system diseases, including the brain. When looking for a physician, narrow down the search to those in the right category. For example, if one is having heart troubles like murmurs or palpitations, the patient must look for a physician who is a cardiologist.
Besides looking for a specialist in the right category, he or she must also be close to home. One medical center in Missouri is the Missouri Delta Medical Center which has a Cancer center, Rehabilitation Center, Women’s Care Center, and Wound Medicine. To see if this location is right for the patient, book an appointment for an interview to see if the patient and doctor are compatible and understand one another. Watch videos on Youtube to know more.
