Family Medicine is a medical specialty devoted to comprehensive health care and is based on holistic care of the patient and his or her family in the community context.
Family physicians provide healthcare for acute and chronic illnesses with a strong emphasis on health promotion, wellness and disease prevention. This includes the essential focus on healthy habits as a foundation for health and wellbeing.
Taking care of the physical, emotional and mental health of patients and their families is the main goal of family physicians. They have trained further in many areas of medicine and have the ability to diagnose and manage a wide variety of health problems and to address underlying causes.
Family physicians also provide preventative healtcare, which includes wellness assessments, immunisations, screening tests, health risk assessments and suggestions on how to make individualised healthy lifestyle choices for adults, children and babies.
There is a strong emphasis on shared decision making, partnering with patients in managing their health and empowering patients to achieve optimal health and wellbeing.