What does a general practitioner do?
The heart of a community medical clinic, a general practitioner provides medical care to people of all ages and backgrounds. They use their years of medical training, as well as their emotional and communication skills, to relieve a wide range of conditions and ailments. General practitioners assess when a patient’s presentation is beyond the scope of their expertise and issue referrals to specialists or testing clinics to better treat a malady.
Ultimately, how successfully and compassionately a general practitioner works with their patients will determine whether those same patients will return to the same clinic the next time they require assistance.
General practitioner skills and qualifications
To become a general practitioner, candidates will first need to have acquired a number of qualifications. Alongside these minimum requirements, successful general practitioners will also demonstrate a variety of hard and soft skills. Besides the necessary medical knowledge and diagnostic competence, general practitioners must be highly effective communicators and be able to use empathy and compassion to make their patients feel comfortable expressing themselves.
General practitioners should have some competency with IT systems, to be able to manage patient records, and issue prescriptions and referrals.
Key GP qualifications and skills include the following:
- Bachelor of Medical Science / Doctor of Medicine Qualification
- general and specialist registration with the Medical Board of Australia
- Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (FRACGP)
- communication skills – empathy and compassion
- competence with medical record-keeping and IT systems.
General practitioner experience requirements
Once a candidate has completed the necessary education, they are ready to start work as a general practitioner. Besides the compulsory hospital internship, previous work experience is not necessary for most positions. This may vary in the case of senior positions within a clinic, for which you might ask for some years’ prior experience working as a GP.
General practitioner education and training requirements
General practitioners are required to complete extensive training and attain several different qualifications to work. They must first complete a university degree in medicine, either as an undergraduate program or as a postgraduate course. Following this, candidates complete a year-long internship at a recognised hospital, rotating through different departments. The final step to obtaining a Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (FRACGP) is to complete the Australian General Practice Training (AGPT) Program, which is an additional three years of training and includes exams.
General practitioner salary expectations
According to Indeed Salaries, the average salary for a general practitioner is $260,380 per year. Actual salaries can vary depending on location, candidate experience, position seniority and the specific clinic.
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