Is there a doctor who doesn't specialize in anything?

Question

I was reading about General Practitioners. At first I though that they didn't specialize and just went to work right out of medical school. On the website I was at it said that they do specialize in family medicine. So what is it called when you don't specialize, or was the website wrong? (I most likely interpreted it wrong).

Answer 1

Basically you could say that a family physician dosen't specialize in anything particular, because they have to be familiar with a broad range of conditions.

Answer 2

In the US, a general practitioner is a Family Medicine doctor who is neither board certified nor eligible.  Family Medicine is considered to be a specialty for the purposes of board ceritification, but is considered to be a non-specialty for insurance purposes.

However, even GPs must go through residency, and must pass the US Medical Licensing Exams, all 3 parts to practice medicine  in the US.  The only difference is the GP does not complete the entire 3-yr residency of Family Medicine.

Answer 3

Specializing in family medicine is basically NOT specializing.  "Family medicine" just means that you need to be familiar with a wide range of ailments and conditions.  For example, on Monday, you might be the 'dermatologist' to the 13-year old girl with acne.  On Tuesday, you might be a 'proctologist', giving a prostate exam to a 60 year old man.

Answer 4

General practioners have several different meanings depending the medical system (US vs. UK) as well its definition has changed over the years.  

In the US system, a General Practitioner or GP has completed a 1 year internship post medical school and has not done any further training.   They do not specialize in anything and for the most part quite rare in the US.  They are not board certified and they are in no way equivalent to family medicine or internal medicine.  

A family practice doc after med school completes a 3 year family medicine residency. Eventually will become board certified in family medicine.  Their job is basically primary care for anyone ranging from infants to the elderly. These guys you usually find working out of clinics or offices, they can be in hospital but generally are not. If you think of the small town doc who can do everything from deliver a baby or care for the dying, that's a family practice doc.

Answer 5

yes there is and it is called general doctor.... family doctor has to specialize

Answer 6

a Family Doctor i think they are pretty generalized or the ones that work in the ER they deal w/ any and everything