General Practitioners

The offices and examining rooms of general practitioners are well equipped, attractive, well lighted, and well ventilated. There are usually several nurses, a laboratory technician, one or more secretaries, a bookkeeper, and a receptionist available to assist the GP.

General practitioners usually see patients by appointments that are scheduled according to individual requirements. They may reserve all mornings for hospital visits and minor surgery. They may see patients in the office only on certain days of the week. General practitioners may also visit patients in nursing homes, hospices, and home-care settings.

General practitioners in private practice have the advantages of working independently, but hours can be long and the average week can be filled with a range of patient interactions. A 2023 American Board of Family Medicine survey found that, on a scale of one to five, work/life balance was 3.4 and job satisfaction was 3.8.