Becoming A General Practitioner
Becoming a General Practitioner
Being a general practitioner is a career that I am really interested in. A general practitioner is a doctor who examines people; listens to the patients describe their health problems, and performs tests to determine what is wrong with the patient. They also describe the medicine and/or treatment required to improve their health. I consider this choice for my career because I plan on going into the medical field when I enroll into college. When beginning my research I was pondering on which career to choose; becoming a general practitioner or a general surgeon. I decided that becoming a general practitioner was much better for me than becoming a general surgeon which would be different. I would like to research …show more content…
what education is needed to become a general practitioner, what a typical day consists of for them, what the pay and job outlook is, and what type of reading and writing is required in the field. Going to college or a university to become a general practitioner is no easy task. It not only takes the student many years to receive their degree, but it takes a lot of hard work and dedication. The student will be educated in a subject that is not only hard, but it is extremely important that they know what they are doing. Of course, it will take anywhere from ten to twelve years for the student to be prepared to take on this responsibility. To begin with, the student must have completed four years of school at an undergraduate college or university. By the end of the four years the student should have completed enough courses to obtain their Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree. Courses that are recommended that a student take are biology, chemistry, and physics. Mostly the student should aim for choosing classes that will emphasize basic sciences. It is, however, possible that the student enter medical school with emphasis on other areas. It is also recommended that the student completes a pre-med program before applying to any medical schools. The pre-med program requires a minimum of the following classes: social sciences, humanities, chemistry, biology, and physics. A medical school that I found requires a student to have completed a pre-med program by the time of applying is The University of Washington. After completing the first four years of college the student must take the Medical College Admission Test, or MCAT, in order to be accepted into a medical school. The Medical College Admission Test is a standardized exam designed to evaluate the examinee’s ability of problem solving, critical thinking, and knowledge necessary to the study of medicine. Most of all the medical schools in the United States require applicant to submit MCAT exam scores. It is not a simple exam to take. If the student is preparing to apply to a health professions school, including allopathic, osteopathic, podiatric, and veterinary medicine, he/she must submit the scores to the school that they are hoping to attend. If the student is accepted into a medical school after submitting their scores, they must prepare to enter a whole new challenge. The student must now complete 4 additional years of education at one of the medical schools of the U.S that is accredited by the Liaisor Committee on Medical Education (LCME). During the four years at a medical school the student’s education will consist of preclinical and clinical parts. After completing medical school, the student has earned their doctor of medicine degree. After completing their eight years of education a student must then take and complete a residency program. A residency program can vary from 3 to seven years or more of professional training. A residency program is a program in which the newly received practitioner undergoes training under the supervision of a senior physician educator. The length of the residency training varies depending on the medical specialty chosen. This is where the real comparison between a general practitioner and a general surgeon begins. Family practice only requires three years of training, while general surgery requires five years of training. After so many years of going to college to receive my doctor of medicine degree, I would prefer to be in training for three years instead of five. The amount of years required to become a general practitioner versus becoming a general surgeon, is two years less than a general surgeon. This being one of the major reasons why I consider being a general practitioner better than being a general surgeon. Education wise the only difference between the two is that a general surgeon requires two more years of training than a general practitioner. After training is where the rea life of a general practitioner begins. Most general practitioners see patients in a medical office.
However, they also provide care in hospitals, nursing homes, health centers, and emergency departments. A medical office is run somewhat like a small business. There is usually a front office with a staff composed of trained medical assistants and someone to manage billing and patients’ files. Although some general practitioners have medical offices, they are prepared to work in rural and international situations. General practitioners spend the majority of their work hours caring for patients and evaluating their health. They often spend more time on patient-related activities that any other activity. Patients visit a general practitioner when they have a new symptom, need care for any condition, are injured or are seeking preventive care. Many physicians are also able to provide prenatal care and deliver babies, especial in rural or and international areas. Regardless of the reason for the patient’s visit, a general practitioner will ask many questions in order to evaluate the overall health of the patient. The practitioner may then create what is called a genogram in order to collect information of all of the factors that contribute to a patient’s condition. The practitioner will then be able to come to a correct diagnosis of the patient’s condition, even when the symptoms are common. Many time a practitioner will follow a patient from infancy through adulthood. The practitioner then usually treats other family …show more content…
members as well, giving the doctor access to medical histories of up to many generations of that family. This provides the practitioner to become well educated with the patients’ health and gives them the ability to help their patients to get healthy and maintain a good health. A typical day for a general practitioner consists of examining their patients and evaluating their health conditions. They examine patients and take down their histories, order laboratory tests, x-rays and any other diagnostic procedures. They then consult with other physicians in order to evaluate their patients’ physical and mental health. They also provide counseling and support to their patients about their health and lifestyle. General practitioners also treat injuries and/or illnesses. They prescribe the patient medications or treatments to help cure their condition. A general practitioner helps his patients without having to operate on a patient. I prefer the typical day of a doctor than that of a surgeon. A general surgeon spends hours in the operating room performing surgeries to treat injuries, diseases or deformities. General surgeons also have a greater possibility of something going wrong during the surgery and the patient dying. By being a general practitioner I would not have to face the possibility of someone dying because I didn’t perform the surgery correctly. There is still some risk while being a doctor but it is not as big as being a general surgeon. A general practitioner also has a shorter work day that a general surgeon. A general surgeon may have to work up to two days straight, while a general practitioner may only have to work a few hours if they’re lucky. This further proves my point that being a general practitioner is a better career than being a general surgeon. The salary of a general practitioner in the United States is expected to be around $175,000 per year. The yearly salary for a general practitioner depends on many factors like the working location, work experience, skills, and qualification. It has been shown that a general practitioner earns a median hourly wage of around eighty-one dollars per hour. They usually work around 40 hours a week to begin with, which averages about 2080 hours per year. A general surgeon earns around $250,000 a year with an hourly wage of about fifty-nine dollars per hour as a minimum. The hourly wage of a beginning general practitioner is much about thirty dollars higher than that of a general surgeon. The yearly salary of a beginning general practitioner is about fifty thousand dollars higher than the salary of a beginning general surgeon. This would be another point in proving that becoming a general practitioner is better than becoming a general surgeon.
Going into the medical field a student uses both rhetoric and scientific devices in order to address their audience. Medical writing is different from professional writing. Medical writing uses rhetoric and science devices in order to address their audience. This type of writing combines two or more academic disciplines, like applying knowledge from both rhetoric and scientific devices to enhance the reader’s understanding of the medical occurrence. There are different type audiences in medical writing, which go along with the wide spectrum of specialties that fall under the same category. The audience of a journalist in the medical field, for example, is different from the audience of a writer in a different field of study. Either way, nearly all medical writers share a common value: to express medical information to their readers in the most effective ways possible. Medical writing is different from other types of writing because it requires many different aspects from different fields. This type of writing incorporates knowledge, methods, and terminology from many different fields into one. For example, medical writers usually consult fields like biostatistics, journalism, medicine, English, public health, and pharmacy.
Going into the medical field does not only require the knowledge of science and math, but it also involves reading. A student who is enrolled in medical school is required to add reading into their learning strategies. When the student begins their coursework in medical school they quickly begin to realize that there are many things to read and master in a very short amount of time. If the students’ reading skills are not excellent, their reading efficiency goes down critically. Fortunately, reading skills can be improved with regular practice and fortunately, their efficiency can improve along with their reading skills. A student is required to read their textbooks in order to further understand the material they are learning. They don’t simply learn from hands-on learning experiences, they need to read the textbook material in order to learn the details of what they are practicing.
Becoming a general practitioner is no easy task.
Many years are spent in college preparing for a long career. In the end, after a lot of hard work, a general practitioner gets the satisfaction of saving lives or helping people maintain their good health. Those are the reasons why I consider being a general practitioner better than being a general surgeon. After researching what this career entails, I am sure that I want this to be my future career. This is something that I would like to dedicate the rest of my life to. It is truly something that fulfills all of the things I look for in a job.
Works Cited
"About the MCAT Exam - Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) - Applicants - Students." About the MCAT Exam - Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) - Applicants - Students. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2014.
"General Practitioner Salary | GP Salary in 2013." Healthcare Salaries General Practitioner
Salary Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.
"General Surgeon Salary | How Much Does a General Surgeon Make?" Healthcare Salaries
General Surgeon Salary Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan.
2014.
"Medicine From The Trenches." Medicine From The Trenches. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
"Pre-med Course Requirements." | UW Medicine. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.
"Requirements for Becoming a Physician." Requirements for Becoming a Physician. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2014.
"Welcome to the Purdue OWL." Purdue OWL: Medical Writing. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.
"What Is a Day in the Life of a General Practitioners and Family Physicians Like?" StudentScholarshopsorg Career Questions RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.
Being a general practitioner is a career that I am really interested in. A general practitioner is a doctor who examines people; listens to the patients describe their health problems, and performs tests to determine what is wrong with the patient. They also describe the medicine and/or treatment required to improve their health. I consider this choice for my career because I plan on going into the medical field when I enroll into college. When beginning my research I was pondering on which career to choose; becoming a general practitioner or a general surgeon. I decided that becoming a general practitioner was much better for me than becoming a general surgeon which would be different. I would like to research …show more content…
what education is needed to become a general practitioner, what a typical day consists of for them, what the pay and job outlook is, and what type of reading and writing is required in the field. Going to college or a university to become a general practitioner is no easy task. It not only takes the student many years to receive their degree, but it takes a lot of hard work and dedication. The student will be educated in a subject that is not only hard, but it is extremely important that they know what they are doing. Of course, it will take anywhere from ten to twelve years for the student to be prepared to take on this responsibility. To begin with, the student must have completed four years of school at an undergraduate college or university. By the end of the four years the student should have completed enough courses to obtain their Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree. Courses that are recommended that a student take are biology, chemistry, and physics. Mostly the student should aim for choosing classes that will emphasize basic sciences. It is, however, possible that the student enter medical school with emphasis on other areas. It is also recommended that the student completes a pre-med program before applying to any medical schools. The pre-med program requires a minimum of the following classes: social sciences, humanities, chemistry, biology, and physics. A medical school that I found requires a student to have completed a pre-med program by the time of applying is The University of Washington. After completing the first four years of college the student must take the Medical College Admission Test, or MCAT, in order to be accepted into a medical school. The Medical College Admission Test is a standardized exam designed to evaluate the examinee’s ability of problem solving, critical thinking, and knowledge necessary to the study of medicine. Most of all the medical schools in the United States require applicant to submit MCAT exam scores. It is not a simple exam to take. If the student is preparing to apply to a health professions school, including allopathic, osteopathic, podiatric, and veterinary medicine, he/she must submit the scores to the school that they are hoping to attend. If the student is accepted into a medical school after submitting their scores, they must prepare to enter a whole new challenge. The student must now complete 4 additional years of education at one of the medical schools of the U.S that is accredited by the Liaisor Committee on Medical Education (LCME). During the four years at a medical school the student’s education will consist of preclinical and clinical parts. After completing medical school, the student has earned their doctor of medicine degree. After completing their eight years of education a student must then take and complete a residency program. A residency program can vary from 3 to seven years or more of professional training. A residency program is a program in which the newly received practitioner undergoes training under the supervision of a senior physician educator. The length of the residency training varies depending on the medical specialty chosen. This is where the real comparison between a general practitioner and a general surgeon begins. Family practice only requires three years of training, while general surgery requires five years of training. After so many years of going to college to receive my doctor of medicine degree, I would prefer to be in training for three years instead of five. The amount of years required to become a general practitioner versus becoming a general surgeon, is two years less than a general surgeon. This being one of the major reasons why I consider being a general practitioner better than being a general surgeon. Education wise the only difference between the two is that a general surgeon requires two more years of training than a general practitioner. After training is where the rea life of a general practitioner begins. Most general practitioners see patients in a medical office.
However, they also provide care in hospitals, nursing homes, health centers, and emergency departments. A medical office is run somewhat like a small business. There is usually a front office with a staff composed of trained medical assistants and someone to manage billing and patients’ files. Although some general practitioners have medical offices, they are prepared to work in rural and international situations. General practitioners spend the majority of their work hours caring for patients and evaluating their health. They often spend more time on patient-related activities that any other activity. Patients visit a general practitioner when they have a new symptom, need care for any condition, are injured or are seeking preventive care. Many physicians are also able to provide prenatal care and deliver babies, especial in rural or and international areas. Regardless of the reason for the patient’s visit, a general practitioner will ask many questions in order to evaluate the overall health of the patient. The practitioner may then create what is called a genogram in order to collect information of all of the factors that contribute to a patient’s condition. The practitioner will then be able to come to a correct diagnosis of the patient’s condition, even when the symptoms are common. Many time a practitioner will follow a patient from infancy through adulthood. The practitioner then usually treats other family …show more content…
members as well, giving the doctor access to medical histories of up to many generations of that family. This provides the practitioner to become well educated with the patients’ health and gives them the ability to help their patients to get healthy and maintain a good health. A typical day for a general practitioner consists of examining their patients and evaluating their health conditions. They examine patients and take down their histories, order laboratory tests, x-rays and any other diagnostic procedures. They then consult with other physicians in order to evaluate their patients’ physical and mental health. They also provide counseling and support to their patients about their health and lifestyle. General practitioners also treat injuries and/or illnesses. They prescribe the patient medications or treatments to help cure their condition. A general practitioner helps his patients without having to operate on a patient. I prefer the typical day of a doctor than that of a surgeon. A general surgeon spends hours in the operating room performing surgeries to treat injuries, diseases or deformities. General surgeons also have a greater possibility of something going wrong during the surgery and the patient dying. By being a general practitioner I would not have to face the possibility of someone dying because I didn’t perform the surgery correctly. There is still some risk while being a doctor but it is not as big as being a general surgeon. A general practitioner also has a shorter work day that a general surgeon. A general surgeon may have to work up to two days straight, while a general practitioner may only have to work a few hours if they’re lucky. This further proves my point that being a general practitioner is a better career than being a general surgeon. The salary of a general practitioner in the United States is expected to be around $175,000 per year. The yearly salary for a general practitioner depends on many factors like the working location, work experience, skills, and qualification. It has been shown that a general practitioner earns a median hourly wage of around eighty-one dollars per hour. They usually work around 40 hours a week to begin with, which averages about 2080 hours per year. A general surgeon earns around $250,000 a year with an hourly wage of about fifty-nine dollars per hour as a minimum. The hourly wage of a beginning general practitioner is much about thirty dollars higher than that of a general surgeon. The yearly salary of a beginning general practitioner is about fifty thousand dollars higher than the salary of a beginning general surgeon. This would be another point in proving that becoming a general practitioner is better than becoming a general surgeon.
Going into the medical field a student uses both rhetoric and scientific devices in order to address their audience. Medical writing is different from professional writing. Medical writing uses rhetoric and science devices in order to address their audience. This type of writing combines two or more academic disciplines, like applying knowledge from both rhetoric and scientific devices to enhance the reader’s understanding of the medical occurrence. There are different type audiences in medical writing, which go along with the wide spectrum of specialties that fall under the same category. The audience of a journalist in the medical field, for example, is different from the audience of a writer in a different field of study. Either way, nearly all medical writers share a common value: to express medical information to their readers in the most effective ways possible. Medical writing is different from other types of writing because it requires many different aspects from different fields. This type of writing incorporates knowledge, methods, and terminology from many different fields into one. For example, medical writers usually consult fields like biostatistics, journalism, medicine, English, public health, and pharmacy.
Going into the medical field does not only require the knowledge of science and math, but it also involves reading. A student who is enrolled in medical school is required to add reading into their learning strategies. When the student begins their coursework in medical school they quickly begin to realize that there are many things to read and master in a very short amount of time. If the students’ reading skills are not excellent, their reading efficiency goes down critically. Fortunately, reading skills can be improved with regular practice and fortunately, their efficiency can improve along with their reading skills. A student is required to read their textbooks in order to further understand the material they are learning. They don’t simply learn from hands-on learning experiences, they need to read the textbook material in order to learn the details of what they are practicing.
Becoming a general practitioner is no easy task.
Many years are spent in college preparing for a long career. In the end, after a lot of hard work, a general practitioner gets the satisfaction of saving lives or helping people maintain their good health. Those are the reasons why I consider being a general practitioner better than being a general surgeon. After researching what this career entails, I am sure that I want this to be my future career. This is something that I would like to dedicate the rest of my life to. It is truly something that fulfills all of the things I look for in a job.
Works Cited
"About the MCAT Exam - Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) - Applicants - Students." About the MCAT Exam - Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) - Applicants - Students. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2014.
"General Practitioner Salary | GP Salary in 2013." Healthcare Salaries General Practitioner
Salary Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.
"General Surgeon Salary | How Much Does a General Surgeon Make?" Healthcare Salaries
General Surgeon Salary Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan.
2014.
"Medicine From The Trenches." Medicine From The Trenches. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
"Pre-med Course Requirements." | UW Medicine. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.
"Requirements for Becoming a Physician." Requirements for Becoming a Physician. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2014.
"Welcome to the Purdue OWL." Purdue OWL: Medical Writing. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.
"What Is a Day in the Life of a General Practitioners and Family Physicians Like?" StudentScholarshopsorg Career Questions RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.