General practice
General practice is personal, family, and community-orientated comprehensive primary care that includes diagnosis, continues over time and is anticipatory as well as responsive.[1]
A general practitioner (GP) is a doctor who is a consultant in the discipline of general practice. GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk associated with the continuous care they provide. GPs work at the heart of their communities, striving to provide comprehensive and equitable care for everyone, taking into account their health care needs, stage of life and background. GPs work in, connect with and lead multidisciplinary teams that care for people and their families, respecting the context in which they live, aiming to ensure all of their physical health and mental health needs are met.[2]
General practice is an academic and scientific discipline with its own educational content, research, evidence base and clinical activity. Characteristics that define the discipline of general practice are:[1][3]
The general practice model is used in countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, India and South Africa. In some countries, such as the United States, similar services may be described as family medicine or primary care. The term primary care may include services provided by GPs, community nursing, allied health, pharmacy, optometrist, dentistry, and community hearing care providers. The balance of care between primary care and secondary care - which usually refers to hospital based services - varies from place to place. In many countries there are initiatives to move services out of hospitals into the community, in the expectation that this will be cost-effective and be more convenient.
Australia[edit]
General Practice services in Australia are funded under the Medicare Benefits Scheme (MBS) which is a public health insurance scheme. Australians need a referral from the GP to be able to access specialist care. Most general practitioners work in a general practitioner practice, supported by practice nurses and administrative staff. Often other health professionals such as allied health practitioners en pharmacists are part of general practice teams to provide an integrated multidisciplinary healthcare team to deliver primary care.[5]