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What is a family physician?

A family physician is a certified doctor specializing in family medicine. They help prevent, diagnose, manage, and treat most health conditions (behavioral, biological, or social). They focus on providing continuing and comprehensive medical care to people of all ages, from infants to older adults. Family physicians often work in hospitals, community medical clinics, private office settings, or with a group of family practice doctors. 

Family physicians serve as the first point of contact for the patients. They help them navigate the healthcare system and coordinate with specialists to enhance patient care. They focus on building long-term, trustworthy relationships with patients to provide optimum care. Family physicians also consider the impact of a patient's health on the family and utilize technology to improve treatment outcomes.

What do family physicians do?

The spectrum of care services provided by family physicians who operate in community health settings is extensive. These services include health risk assessments, routine health checkups, screening tests, immunizations, healthy lifestyle maintenance, and personalized health counseling.

Family physicians can even manage chronic illnesses, alleviate the symptoms, and help patients lead a good quality of life. They also provide continuous, personal care to each family member for severe health conditions like hypertension, stroke, heart disease, asthma, cancer, and diabetes. Family physicians can specialize in sports medicine, public health, and urgent and emergency care.

Educational qualifications needed for being a family physician

After earning an undergraduate degree of at least three years, aspirants attend a medical school, pursuing a four-year course that includes acquiring theoretical knowledge on various aspects of medicine. To become a licensed family physician, students must take board examinations like USMLE or COMLEX-USA, the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination of the United States.

After these examinations, the aspirants attend a three-year residency program, which includes rotations in pediatrics, obstetrics, general surgery, inpatient hospital care, and emergency medicine. The residency helps gain practical experience in the field. Before practicing medicine, family physicians must be certified by certification boards like the American Board of Family Medicine or the American Osteopathic Board of Family Physicians (AOBFP).

What to expect on your visit to a family physician?

On your first visit, family physicians may discuss general health history, family medical history, and ongoing symptoms. Then, they might conduct a physical exam to identify the ailment. They may check your body temperature, breathing rate, blood pressure, heartbeat, and immunization history. Depending on the symptoms, doctors may recommend blood tests to check for diabetes, viral infection, and high cholesterol. 

When required, they may conduct a head and neck exam, abdominal exam, and skin exam for a comprehensive diagnosis. Various screening tests that family physicians may recommend include:

• Child and infant screenings to check their growth and development status
• Men's health screenings include colorectal examinations, prostate exams, and aortic aneurysm screenings.
• Women's health screenings include mammograms, sexual health screenings, osteoporosis screenings, and pap smears. 

Family physicians also ask questions about existing allergies and side effects, ongoing medications, and treatment. This information helps them create a suitable treatment plan and provide continued patient care.

Subspecialties within family medicine

Family physicians may undergo further training to specialize in any of the following family medicine subspecialties:

• Pain medicine focuses on patients suffering from chronic, acute, or cancer-related pain in outpatient and hospital settings. These specialists also coordinate with other specialists to optimize patient care.

• Adolescent medicine is a multidisciplinary specialization that addresses adolescents' unique social, physical, and psychological characteristics, healthcare needs, and conditions. 

• Hospice and palliative medicine treat patients suffering from life-limiting illnesses. These specialists work with the palliative or hospice care teams to address the patients' and their families' social, physical, spiritual, and psychological needs and improve their quality of life.

• Geriatric medicine deals with elderly care. It focuses on specific skills to diagnose, prevent, manage, rehabilitate, and treat conditions among older adults. Family physicians specializing in geriatric medicine can provide care services to elderly patients at home, in the office, in the hospital, and in the nursing home. 

• Sleep medicine focuses on diagnosing and managing sleep-related medical conditions that affect sleep quality or disturb the normal sleep cycle. Sleep medicine specialists can interpret and analyze comprehensive polysomnography and effectively manage a sleep laboratory.

• Sports medicine focuses on preventing, diagnosing, and treating sports—and exercise-related injuries or conditions. It also deals with diseases and illnesses that affect physical performance. 

Family physicians help understand your condition and refer you to the appropriate specialty for optimum treatment.

Family medicine vs. internal medicine 

There are some basic fundamental differences between the functioning of family medicine and internal medicine.

The main differences between training and patient care are the following: 

Internal medicine requires the doctor to gain general training and internal subspecialties. This experience allows them to develop expertise in diagnosing and treating various issues, particularly complex medical conditions like cancer, infections, and ailments affecting the heart, joints, blood, kidneys, and the digestive, respiratory, and vascular systems.

Family medicine, on the contrary, can treat patients of all ages. This breadth allows the doctor to attend to various medical issues. They typically adapt their practice according to the needs of the patients. Family physicians also coordinate care among specialists, guiding their patients to comprehensive medical care and giving them the best treatment possible.

Tips to keep your body healthy

Here are the top tips to help you improve your health:

• Quit smoking: Smoking is the predominant cause of most of the preventable diseases. It drastically increases the chances of stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and respiratory diseases. Talk to a family physician near you about quitting smoking. They can prescribe medications and help you get over the habit.

• Move your body: Regular physical activity or exercise can help you feel more energized and healthier. It even improves your mental and physical health. So avoid an idle or sedentary lifestyle and include daily exercise and physical activity in your daily routine to improve your health. 

Moderate-intensity aerobic activities or exercises like cycling, dancing, running, brisk walking, whole-body stretches, or doing household work are great ways to keep your body healthy. They help with weight management, improve heart health, strengthen bones and muscles, and decrease the chances of chronic diseases. 

• Stay hydrated: The body requires water to digest food, maintain body temperature, deliver vital nutrients to the cells, and ensure all the organs function correctly. Therefore, you must drink ample water daily to keep your body healthy. An adult human body needs about 1 gallon (3 liters) of water daily. Lack of water causes dehydration, headaches, tiredness, mood changes, and trouble focusing or concentrating. 

• Eat whole foods: Include more whole foods in your meals, as they contain natural minerals, vitamins, and essential nutrients necessary to keep the body healthy. Processed foods contain more preservatives, artificial colors, trans fat, and added sugar, which are unhealthy for the body and lead to various lifestyle diseases. 

Fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, legumes, fish and seafood, meat and poultry, and whole grains are the best examples of whole foods. Processed meats, chips and crackers, baked products, sugar beverages, white bread, and ice cream are some processed foods you must avoid. 

• Get good sleep: Sleep is essential for the body. It helps restore energy, repair cells, and rejuvenate. Sleep deprivation can increase the risks of metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, depression, and anxiety. Therefore, to stay healthy, you must ensure your body gets at least 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep every night.

How to find the best family physician near you in Chandler, Arizona

Regular health checkups with the family physician are crucial to good health and well-being. But how do you find a qualified and licensed family physician you can trust with your health issues? The answer is simple: Log in to Zocdoc.

With Zocdoc, you can easily find the most experienced family physicians in Chandler, Arizona. First, create a free account on Zocdoc. Next, select your specialty or condition, location, and date. Once you enter the details, you will see a comprehensive list of highly qualified family practice doctors in your area.

All healthcare providers on Zocdoc have unique profiles. You can read about their educational qualifications, board certifications, clinical interests, expertise, experience, and spoken languages. Choosing an in-network provider can help save money if you already have a health plan. If you want to know your insurance plan, upload an image of your insurance card to your Zocdoc account, and we will find and display information regarding your insurance plan (this facility is not available for vision or dental plans). You can also check out Zocdoc's patient help center for more information and solutions related to insurance. 

After an appointment, we ask patients to leave a review. These updated and verified reviews and user ratings can help you choose the most suitable family physician in Chandler, Arizona. You can refine the results by gender if you want a female or male family physician. You can even perform an area-specific search on Zocdoc to locate a licensed family physician near you. 

Zocdoc also allows you to book a video appointment before an in-person visit to better understand your provider. Look for a purple video icon on providers' profiles or filter the video appointment selection. Now, you can even book real-time appointments with family physicians. 

All bookings on Zocdoc are simple, secure, and free!

Statistics on primary care in Arizona, USA

According to the September 2023 data published by America's Health Rankings, Arizona had about 213.5 primary care providers (including family practice, general practice, internal medicine, geriatrics, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants), lower than the US average of 232.0 providers per 100,000 people. 

In 2022, about 11.3% of adults in Arizona reported having three or more chronic conditions, such as asthma, arthritis, heart disease, stroke, heart attack, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, depression, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cancer (excluding skin cancer). This figure was higher than the US average of about 9.6%. A higher percentage of women (13.4%) in Arizona reported having multiple chronic conditions than men (9.0%). About 24.6% of  65+ adults in Arizona had numerous chronic diseases, the highest among other age groups.

In 2022, around 12.7% of adults in Arizona reported having diabetes (excluding gestational diabetes and prediabetes), almost similar to the US average of approximately 11.5%. The 65+ age group had the highest prevalence of patients with diabetes at over 23.4%.

About 30.9% of adults in Arizona reported high blood pressure, lower than the US average of 32.4%. Compared to other age groups, people aged 65 and over reported having high blood pressure at about 56.8%. 

In Arizona, 35% of adults reported having higher cholesterol levels, slightly lower than the US average of 35.7%. Around 51.8% of adults in the 65+ age group reported having high cholesterol levels, per the data published by America's Health Rankings.

Sources

WebMD

American Academy of Family Physicians[1]

American Academy of Family Physicians[2]

American Board of Medical Specialties

America's Health Rankings[1]

America's Health Rankings[2]

America's Health Rankings[3]

America's Health Rankings[4]

America's Health Rankings[5]

University of Medicine and Health Sciences

American College of Physicians

Healthline

The content herein is provided for general informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Medical information changes constantly, and therefore the content on this website should not be assumed to be current, complete or exhaustive. Always seek the advice of your doctor before starting or changing treatment. If you think you may have a medical emergency, please call your doctor or 9-1-1 immediately.