A general practitioner (GP) is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and all sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities. "The good GP will treat patients both as people and as a population".
The term general practitioner or GP is common in the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom and several Commonwealth countries. In these countries the word physician is largely reserved for certain other types of medical specialists, notably in internal medicine. While in these countries, the term GP has a clearly defined meaning, in North America the term has become somewhat ambiguous, and is not necessarily synonymous with the term "family doctor" or primary care provider, as described below.
Read more about General Practitioner: Pay, Notable General Practitioners
Famous quotes containing the word general:
“... women can never do efficient and general service in hospitals until their dress is prescribed by laws inexorable as those of the Medes and Persians. Then, that dress should be entirely destitute of steel, starch, whale-bone, flounces, and ornaments of all descriptions; should rest on the shoulders, have a skirt from the waist to the ankle, and a waist which leaves room for breathing.”
—Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815–1884)