   
Family Medicine is for EVERYONE!
The Practice of
Family Medicine is the entry point for most patients into the nations health
care system. Generally, the family physician is the one doctor that sees
every member of your family (e.g. babies to adolescents to parents to
grandparents), and treats everything from sniffles to Alzheimer's disease. When
circumstances demand a specialist, the Family Physician generally the writes the
referral notice.
The Family
Physician helps each family member manage current illnesses and teaches patients how
to reduce or prevent further illness. Today's Family Physician must function in
the framework of an increasingly fast paced and socially complex system that is
characterized by rapid technological advances and changing patterns of illness.
The rapid expansion of medical research and dissemination of this information
through the internet has also brought about dramatic changes in a patients
expectations concerning individual health needs and health needs of the entire
family.
Unlike a
specialist, the Family Physician knows the medical history of each family member
and uses this knowledge to enlarge the scope of treatment in different
situations. It is not uncommon for a Family Physician to provide healthcare for
many years as a baby matures into an adult. This personal knowledge is very
useful for the physician and invaluable for the patient. Of course, the
physician will inevitably better know some families or members of an individual
family than the others. Regardless, by caring for the whole family, the Family
Physician gains personal knowledge that cannot be realized by specialists.
The Family
Physician is in the unique situation to focus upon the health needs of a single
individual, but also help with the larger issues that arise within the entire
family. For example, a serious illness that affects a specific member of a
household can be followed by family dysfunction. The family doctor can readily
direct specific actions for both the individual and the family as a whole.
Dr. CAREingSM
physicians attain professional fulfillment by committing their art of healing to
a related group of people known as YOUR FAMILY.
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