General practitioners are medical doctors who provide nonsurgical medical care for a wide range of health issues. Mostly serving the adult population, general practitioners evaluate patients through exams and tests and diagnose conditions such as diseases or injuries. They provide treatment or referrals to an appropriate medical specialist. General practitioners prescribe medications and therapies as well as provide patients with information on preventative healthcare, including proper diet and exercise.
When writing your general practitioner job description, include the importance of excellent communication with patients, families and work colleagues in your job summary. Good communication makes a difference between a patient following directions and getting well and a patient not understanding the treatment and getting sicker as a result.
Patience and quick problem-solving skills are also needed in the position of a general practitioner. Take a look at this general practitioner job description for ideas about how to write your own.
General Practitioner Job Summary
Leverage your broad medical knowledge and versatility in our clinic physician position for Community Clinic. We are looking for a caring and friendly general practitioner to serve in this role for one to two shifts per week. Perfect for an addition to your own practice, this position will mainly work during evenings and weekends. The perfect general practitioner is comfortable working as a team with ancillary staff and is willing to abide by Community Clinic’s standards and protocols. If you practice excellent communication and have a high level of detail orientation in a fast-paced clinic environment, this position is for you!
Job Responsibilities
- Examine patients for illness or injury, plan and provide treatment in the form of medicines and therapies and refer them to specialist providers if necessary
- Conduct routine adult physicals as well as youth sports physicals
- Practice active listening and excellent communication skills with patients, their families and all staff, addressing patient concerns as the highest priority
- Document treatments on digital charting software, adhering to Community Clinic’s medical charting standards, including ongoing progress notes and test results
- Work with other physicians and supportive staff as a team in order to collaborate on diagnoses and perform procedures such as splinting broken bones, stabilizing a patient for hospital transport and wound suturing
- Provide education to patients and families regarding medical conditions and their treatment options as well as preventative care strategies of nutrition, exercise and hygiene
- Order laboratory tests such as white blood cell count, blood sugar and x rays and interpret test results
Job Skills & Qualifications
Reqiured:
- Current MD licensure in this state
- National Medical Doctor Certification
- Excellent communication and problem-solving skills, patience and empathy
Preferred:
- Experience in a direct care clinic setting
- Willingness to work two overnight shifts per month
General Practitioner Job Responsibilities
As you write each section of your general practitioner job description, it is important to know what goes into making that section as well-written and appealing as possible. As the biggest and most detailed part of most descriptions, the general practitioner job responsibilities section plays a major role in the success of the overall job description, so understanding how to make sure it communicates persuasively to the most qualified candidates is vital.
Start by remembering that the goal of this section is to outline duties that define the role, and plan to include 6-8 of them in bullet-point style. Once you have the set of responsibilities narrowed down, it is easier to revise them into active voice and to refine the level of detail in the writing through the use of more specific terms. Lastly, make sure each bullet starts with a specific verb that allows the reader to envision an action. That way, your jobseeker will visualize him or herself in the role. Here are a few example responsibilities you might use in a general practitioner job description
- Examine, diagnose and treat patients for a variety of common ailments
- Provide advice and treatment that is in line with preventative health initiatives
- Maintain patient history and communicate relevant medical records to specialists as needed
- Order and analyze medical or clinical diagnostic tests
General Practitioner Job Specifications
Next to the job responsibilities section, the qualifications and skills section of your general practitioner job description seems small. Despite that, it is a vital part of the document, and it provides a unique checklist of previous skills and educational credentials that allow jobseekers to easily see whether they are a good fit for the position. To accomplish that, it needs to be specific and complete.
Making sure the list of general practitioner job specifications is complete is a matter of research. That means looking into online resources that help you flesh out your idea of the job as well as talking to those who know the role most intimately. From there, it is easier to come up with the specific skills and educational credentials you need to include while using the right terms for them.
That level of specificity is what allows people to easily make decisions about applying for the job in your general practitioner job description. Here are a couple of examples of vital specifications you can include in your skills and qualifications section:
Medical Doctor or Doctor of Osteopathy credentials Completed residency program Strong problem sensitivity and diagnosis skills Extensive knowledge of biology and psychology