Family medicine is full-spectrum medical care for the whole family including kids, adults, and geriatric patients. It is the same type of care that you would get from a general practitioner or the “ole country doctor”. This includes preventative, urgent, acute, and chronic care of conditions for patients of all ages.
Preventative care typically involves annual physical exams or check-ups, labs to screen for health disorders, well women’s exams (pap smears), vaccinations, nutrition, and weight management. Urgent care is care that is not an emergency but needs immediate action such as an orthopedic/sports injury, migraine, dehydration, or an open wound needing repair. Acute care includes sudden onset of new symptoms such as sore throat, flu-like symptoms, cough, fever, back pain, urinary tract infections, or rash. Finally, chronic care includes management of long-term diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol, hormone disorders, anxiety, depression, obesity, and vitamin deficiencies.
A family medical provider is able to conduct physical exams, order and interpret labs and imaging, diagnose conditions, prescribe and administer treatments and medications, and counsel patients.
The family medical provider or general practitioner is also the gatekeeper to specialized care. They are the ones who refer patients to specialist providers, such as a cardiologist or neurologist, for extensive, specialized medical care that the specialist has expertise in. The general practitioner sees the patient regularly to manage all forms of care, whereas the specialist is seen on a less frequent basis only for the condition the patient is being sent for.
We are proud to offer complete family medical care at BBC Health. Our providers work together to give an integrated team approach to healthcare. Through our affiliation with Southwestern Health Resources, we can serve your primary family medical care needs.
Schedule your appointment today to begin experiencing complete family medical care with providers who listen to their patients and strive to work as a team to better serve you.
