If we consult the dictionary of the Spanish language of the Royal Spanish Academy, we will find the entry 'médico de cabecera o médico de familia' (general practitioner or family doctor) with this definition: a doctor who habitually assists a person or a family.
The figure of the family or rural doctor dates back centuries; in the Renaissance, he was given the name 'médico de cabecera' (head-of-bed doctor) for attending to patients in their homes, prostrate at the head of their bed.
This term, which is still used today, accompanies those practitioners who have a first contact with the patient and guide them on how to treat that health problem or end up referring them to a specialist.
Their role is crucial for people to have continuous medical care throughout their lives in a very close way. Because, sometimes, they can even become the patient's counselor, advisor, and confidant who seeks, in addition to healthcare, a practitioner who listens to them and guides them on how to face some health problem or another, no matter how slight.
This has been the special prominence of the general practitioner as the closest practitioner to a given population ---since they are the reference for both public and private primary care--- for prevention, care, and healthcare assistance.
Proof of this has been the task they have performed ---and still perform--- in the health management of the coronavirus pandemic. Their work has been and is crucial for the care of people affected by Covid-19, regardless of their age, because pathologies do not understand ages.
The services of Clínica Diagonal, where the figure of the family doctor is essential to know the history of FIATC policyholders, demonstrate the importance of primary care and its performance in preventive care. The Family Clinic ---as Clínica Diagonal is known for its more than 10 years of experience and close treatment with patients--- offers more than 35,500 visits per year. The insurer FIATC has general practitioners distributed among Clínica Diagonal (Esplugues de Llobregat, Barcelona) and its medical centers in Córcega and Tarradellas (Barcelona) and Vilanova i la Geltrú, whose total number of annual visits ranges between 18,000 and more than 5,000, depending on the medical center.
Primary care
Current lifestyle habits, where stress, haste, and lack of time play an important role, sometimes lead us to overuse emergency services when what our health demands is a general view of the person, their life, habits, and circumstances. Something that a general practitioner can offer, who also has a global vision of medicine.
A family doctor is a first door to approach if a health problem is detected because they are responsible for making a diagnosis and determining a treatment, and they are the one who can do it best, due to their experience with other patients and because they know us. If necessary, they are also the doctor who refers the patient to a specific specialist to subsequently follow up on the pathology jointly.
One of the characteristics of the family doctor is that they are committed more to the person than to a group of diseases and are available for any health problem people may have, regardless of age or sex. They normally resolve 90% of patients' demands. And, in rural areas, often, they are the only doctor available to their inhabitants.
A family doctor is a first door to approach if a health problem is detectedThe priority of the family doctor is to assess and explore the person as a whole, taking into account not only the physical aspects of the illness but also the psychological, social, family, and habits that can influence their state of health. Their objective is not so much to cure people at a specific moment as to improve the health level of already healthy people with continuous accompaniment and to advise, treat, and cure them when they fall ill.
Unlike specialized doctors who focus their attention on their specialty (cardiologist, traumatologist, etc.), the family doctor has adapted to new technologies by incorporating video calls, telephone follow-ups, and new devices that provide information on the patient's condition almost immediately and allow continuous contact between doctor and patient.
Hence the importance that people always have a reference doctor to contact in case of need. Since this way they have a continuous and dynamic care process throughout their lives. Something very important, for example, when it comes to chronically ill patients whose general practitioner performs constant and strict monitoring of their health status.
It is for all this, for their knowledge of patients and their history, for the experience they accumulate after treating many of them, and for the key role they have thanks to their global vision of them, that we can say that the general practitioner or family doctor is the "specialist in people" doctor.
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