Family Medicine

A family physician is board-certified in family medicine. Training is focused on treating an individual throughout all of his or her life stages. Family physicians will see anyone with any problem, but are experts in common problems. Many family physicians deliver babies in addition to taking care of patients of all ages. Family physicians complete undergraduate school, medical school, and three more years of specialized medical residency training in family medicine. In order to remain board certified, family physicians take a written examination every six, seven, nine or 10 years.

There is a current trend among family physicians to adopt a practice model called the micro practice, or "Ideal Medical Practice". These practices focus on reducing their overhead and increase their utilization of technology. Because the overhead is reduced, the need to see a high volume of patients to generate more revenue is diminished. This allows the doctor to spend more time with their patients, which results in higher satisfaction for the patient and the physician.