About IMSANZ
What is a General Physician?
General Physicians are highly trained specialists who provide
a range of non-surgical health care to adult patients. They
care for difficult, serious or unusual medical problems and
continue to see the patient until these problems have resolved
or stabilised.
Much of their work takes place with hospitalised patients
and most general physicians also see patients in their consulting
rooms.
Subspecialists are physicians who limit their medical practice
to problems involving only one body system or to a special area
of medical knowledge.
Roles of a General Physician Consultant
General physicians are consultants who care for patients with special or
difficult problems. General physicians only see patients who are referred to
them by other doctors, usually by the patient's own general practitioner.
Global Approach
Whether the referral identifies one health problem or many, the general physician's
assessment is always comprehensive. This global approach enables problems to
be detected and diagnostic possibilities to be considered which might otherwise
be missed.
Complex Care
General physicians are especially trained to care for patients with complex
illnesses, in which the diagnosis may be difficult. The general physician's
broad training provides expertise in diagnosis and treatment of problems affecting
different body systems in a patient. They are also trained to deal with social
and psychological impact of disease.
Procedures
General physicians are trained to carry out a variety of medical procedures
for the diagnosis and management of patients with severe and complex illnesses.
Diagnosis
General physicians have special training in the usefulness, limitations and
costs of most diagnostic tests. General physicians use diagnostic tests logically,
safely and effectively to investigate difficult diagnostic problems.
Treatment
General physicians are trained in the critical analysis of research reports
and drug industry claims about new treatments. They are knowledgeable about
complex interactions of medications given simultaneously to treat multiple illnesses
in a patient. The general physician has special expertise in making treatment
decisions to help patients with complex and serious illnesses.
Pre- and Post-operative assessment
General physicians are frequently asked to review patients before surgery.
They advise surgeons of a patient's risk status and can recommend appropriate
management to minimise the risk of the operation. They can also assist in postoperative
care and ongoing medical problems or complications.
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What makes a General Physician special?
The unique combination of knowledge, training and skills distinguishes general
physicians from other medical specialists and general practitioners. Through
a rigorous and comprehensive training program, general physicians are:
- broadly educated to deal with the entire range of the patient's medical
problems
- thorough, logical and scientific in their approach to providing expert
diagnosis
- able to assess and choose drugs and other medical therapies wisely to prevent
and treat disease able to care for patients as whole people, not just body
systems, and
- highly skilled in clinical decision making and cost effective use of dwindling
health care resources
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