When to see a family physician?
Family physicians are medical professionals who are qualified to offer continuous and comprehensive medical care, health maintenance, and preventive services to individuals of all ages and genders within a family, addressing various biological, behavioral, and social issues.
One primary reason to see a family physician near you is for routine health check-ups. They can conduct annual physicals, health screenings for men and women, and sports physicals. During your visit, the doctor may check your vitals, including body temperature, breathing rate, and heart rate. They can help you monitor and manage chronic conditions such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, kidney or heart disease, arthritis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and skin problems.
A family physician can prescribe refills for medications to handle these diseases, and they will coordinate with specialists if necessary. A family doctor can provide immediate care if you are sick with the flu, pneumonia, bronchitis, stomach viruses, seasonal allergies, ear infections, etc. They can also treat injuries such as simple fractures and sprains without seeing a specialist.
What are the services provided by family physicians?
Family physicians provide comprehensive primary care healthcare services for undiagnosed health concerns and continuing care. Some of the prominent services family physicians offer include the following:
- Routine check-ups: Family physicians conduct routine check-ups as a part of preventive care to help detect health problems early and reduce the chances of getting sick. It includes comprehensive health risk assessments, vaccinations, health screenings, and diagnostic tests like blood tests. It may also include weight measurement, blood pressure testing, head and throat examinations, heart and lung examinations, and sexual health screenings.
- Acute care: Family physicians are adept at handling acute (sudden or short-term) conditions and injuries, such as colds, coughs, sore throats, muscle pain, and insect bites. You can also visit them for emergency care for minor injuries like sprains, fractures, deep cuts, and burns.
- Chronic disease management: Family physicians can provide ongoing personalized care to manage chronic conditions by fostering long-term relationships with their patients. They also develop tailored treatment plans and prescribe medications to mitigate the effects of such illnesses. Some of these chronic conditions include asthma, heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
- Mental health: Family physicians also receive training to diagnose and treat various mental health conditions. Some of these include substance abuse, stress, anxiety, and depression. They may provide counseling or collaborate with psychiatrists or psychologists to help treat such conditions.
- Men and women's health: Family medicine covers certain aspects of men and women's healthcare services. For men's health, they can help treat conditions like low testosterone and prostate issues. Accordingly, they can conduct breast exams and Pap smears for women and provide contraception counseling and pre- and post-natal care. Furthermore, family physicians can manage geriatric issues by addressing complex health conditions in older adults.
Which procedures can family medicine physicians perform?
As we know, a family physician's physician's work is inter-specialty, and they are well-qualified to provide comprehensive health care. Hence, they are skilled in performing various procedures, including the ones in the list below.
- Ultrasounds: Diagnostic ultrasound, sometimes called sonography, is an imaging procedure employing sound waves to produce images of structures within your body. These tests can indicate various diseases and ailments and help your family physician design and plan treatment plans using imaging.
- Spirometry tests: Spirometry is a routine office exam measuring how much air you take in, exhale, and exhale rapidly to determine how well your lungs function. Spirometry identifies breathing disorders such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
- Colonoscopies: A colonoscopy looks for anomalies, such as polyps, cancer, or swollen, uncomfortable tissues in the large intestine (colon) and rectum.
- Endoscopies: It is a procedure to examine your upper digestive system visually. The apparatus used for this procedure often involves a tiny camera affixed to the end of a long, flexible tube. They are used to diagnose and treat conditions that affect the esophagus, stomach, and the beginning of the small intestine.
Subspecialties within family medicine
Medicine is as complex and wide-ranging as the human body's intricate workings. A family physician may choose to specialize in any of the following fields of family medicine, per the Association of American Medical Colleges.
- Sleep medicine: A family physician specializing in this branch gains expertise in diagnosing and treating clinical problems that develop while a patient is asleep. These may include illnesses that disrupt the wake-sleep cycle or cause situations impairing sleep.
- Sports medicine: A family doctor who focuses on preventing, diagnosing, and treating injuries caused by engaging in sports and exercise is known as a sports medicine specialist.
- Adolescent medicine: Specialists in adolescent medicine learn about the physical, psychological, and social traits particular to teenagers and their medical issues.
- Palliative and hospice care: Family doctors specializing in hospice and palliative care treat patients with life-limiting illnesses to lessen their pain and prevent it from occurring. Together with a diverse hospice or palliative care team, they work closely to improve the quality of their care.
Benefits of seeing a family physician
Family doctors provide a wide range of treatments for patient’s physical and mental well-being. As healthcare providers, they possess extensive knowledge and training across diverse medical conditions. Moreover, they cater to patients of all ages, offering comprehensive treatment programs aimed at maximizing potential outcomes.
Let us discuss some advantages of seeing a family doctor:
- Early detection of medical conditions: Family physicians play a crucial role in the diagnosis of common as well as chronic medical conditions. They may also recommend tests for the early detection of cancer, significantly improving treatment outcomes. Routine exams, including screenings for cardiovascular diseases, help manage long-term illnesses effectively.
- Comprehensive treatment: Family doctors offer comprehensive care for various medical needs, encompassing physical examinations, immunizations, and management of chronic diseases. Additionally, they play a vital role in addressing mental health concerns by providing guidance and making appropriate referrals to therapists and counselors when necessary.
- Personalized care: Family physicians develop personalized relationships with their patients, enabling them to tailor treatments accordingly. They consider the individual's unique circumstances, including gender, age, and life stage, in crafting care plans. When it comes to healthcare, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy. Therefore, tailored care is always the best option.
- Convenient access: Family physicians offer accessible healthcare without the need for referrals or extensive wait times for appointments, unlike specialists. They often accommodate same-day appointments for urgent medical concerns, providing families with invaluable convenience. This accessibility also enables patients to coordinate care for elderly family members and parents effectively.
- Preventive care: Family physicians serve as excellent providers of preventive care. They counsel their patients to make lifestyle modifications to lower their chance of developing specific diseases or ailments. They can educate people about nutrition, exercise, stress management, and other important health and wellness subjects.
- Cost savings: Utilizing a family physician’s services results in significant cost savings. They consolidate medical care by accessing various resources and providing comprehensive services in a single location. It eliminates the need for multiple specialist payments and mitigates long wait times, ultimately reducing overall healthcare expenses.
Find the best family physician near you in Clifton
Your primary line of defense for tackling common health issues is your family doctor. Family practice doctors address many problems with a personalized approach, whether you have a cold or wish to enhance your heart health. Visit Zocdoc's comprehensive online healthcare provider directory if you seek a top-rated family doctor.
Zocdoc makes it easy to find the best family physician in Clifton with just a few clicks. You can use the search bar on Zocdoc's homepage to shortlist the family medicine specialists using filters such as region, symptoms of your condition, and your preferred insurance career and plans. You can schedule in-person, virtual, or online appointments based on the most convenient date and time. You can also update your Zocdoc account's insurance information to get auto-filtered results of family physicians near you within your insurance network. Alternatively, you can upload a picture of your health plan card on the Zocdoc app to get filtered results. Check out Zocdoc's patient help center for more insurance-related FAQs.
In addition, the Zocdoc providers' directory offers a thorough biography of each specialist, which includes information about their training, board certifications, licensure, accreditations, hospital connections, and awards. Additionally, you can read about their clinical specialties, areas of specialization, techniques they follow, and the languages they speak.
Along with our detailed provider directory, we also have up-to-date and verified patient reviews and ratings on their profile, enabling our users to make informed decisions.
Booking appointments with Zocdoc is simple, secure, and 100% free!
Prevalence of diabetes in New Jersey and US residents
The National Diabetes Statistics Report, which is released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), offers comprehensive insights into the prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes, risk factors for complications, as well as short- and long-term health impacts, mortality rates, and associated costs.
According to CDC projections for the entire US population in 2018, approximately 10.5% of the US population, totaling nearly 34.2 million individuals of all ages, had diabetes. Of all the US adults aged 18 years and older, around 13.1% - approximately 34.1 million adults - were diabetic. Nearly 25 of every 10,000 US youngsters, or about 210,000 children and adolescents under 20, were affected by diabetes, with approximately 187,000 of them diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
About 178,000 residents of New Jersey are unaware that they have diabetes. About $5.9 billion is spent annually in the state on direct and indirect costs related to medical care, lost productivity, and early mortality attributed to diabetes. Results from the Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey for 2001 through 2003 indicate that about 444,000 adults in New Jersey aged 18 and older had diabetes.
The numbers for such a prevalent health issue would have been much lower if the maximum of the population had a designated primary care physician. According to a 2018 study published by the Robert Graham Center, New Jersey had about 6,582 primary healthcare physicians, of which approximately 1,591 were family physicians. If we roughly translate this into percentages, around 24% of the direct healthcare workforce are family physicians compared to nearly 38% across the US. The study also showed that almost 48% of family medicine staff in New Jersey are female—more than the country's overall percentage of female staff, which is about 45%.
According to America’s Health Rankings for 2022, approximately 10.8% of adults reported being informed by a health professional that they have diabetes (excluding prediabetes and gestational diabetes). Additionally, nearly 2.0% of women aged 18-44 years reported being told by a doctor that they have diabetes (excluding prediabetes and gestational diabetes).
Sources
American Academy of Family Physicians[1]
American Academy of Family Physicians[2]
American Academy of Family Physicians[3]
American Academy of Family Physicians[4]
Medical University of the Americas
Mayo Clinic[1]
Mayo Clinic[2]
Mayo Clinic[3]
Mayo Clinic[4]
Familydoctor.org
New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Saint George's University
WebMD
Intercoastal Medical Group
Cleveland Clinic
America’s Health Rankings[1]
America’s Health Rankings[2]
Robert Graham Center
Aurora Health Care
Northern Nevada Medical Group
UPMC
Indeed
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