Primary medical care is the medical specialty in which physicians provide comprehensive, patient-centered primary health care to patients and their families. Physicians who practice family medicine can provide routine wellness care, such as physical exams or preventative care, to patients, regardless of age, gender, health or social status. They are also trained to know about many areas of medicine so that they are equipped to treat a wide variety of conditions.
There is often a great need for Primary Care Providers in medically underserved communities where patients have limited access to hospitals and specialists, such as rural areas or overseas. Members of these communities may suffer from low health literacy and more chronic conditions. Additionally, they may have access to fewer resources, underscoring the importance of compassionate, well-trained family physicians.
The Purpose of Primary Care
The goal of the primary care is to provide continual, comprehensive care to an individual. Advocates of primary care providers believe that seeing many different specialists can sometimes result in fragmented care.
But physicians who practice primary or family medicine are trained in providing coordination of care and will refer patients to specialists when necessary. Frequently, they can also provide information about other community resources or health services.
Some of the services we offer may include:
- Diagnosis, treatment and prevention of chronic disease
- Immediate care for sudden and serious illness or injury
- Routine physical exams as well as sports clearance physical exams
- Vaccinations
- Preventative medicine
- Adolescent medicine
- Obstetric medicine
- Geriatric medicine
- Hospice and palliative medicine
- Sports medicine
- Sleep medicine
- Mental health
The Benefits of Primary Care Providers
A primary care provider who cares for a you over a period of years may also be able to provide better guidance about how to maintain a healthy lifestyle, especially if we know the family's medical history firsthand or has seen patterns of health problems. By adapting lifestyle changes and new health habits, patients may be able to avoid costly medications or procedures that can later affect them. Generally, specialists treat conditions that already afflict a patient.
