General Practitioner
What the work is
Diagnoses, treats and prevents human physical and mental disorders and injuries.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Consults with, and conducts examinations on, patients to determine the nature of disorders and illnesses, and maintains patient records
- Creates patient-centric care plans as part of a treatment team, and refers patients to and exchanges medical information with, other Health Professionals
- Requests laboratory tests, X-rays and other diagnostic procedures, and interprets findings to assist diagnosis
- Provides overall care for patients, and prescribes and administers treatments, medications and other remedial measures
- Monitors patient progress and response to treatment
- Performs medical and minor surgical procedures
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a busy suburban general practice with six doctors and a full waiting room. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A patient you have known for ten years brings in their newborn for the first time
- A quiet question near the end of a visit turns out to matter most
- A family member says you were the first doctor to really listen
Hard days
- Fifteen minutes for a person with five problems, and a waiting room full of people
- A patient who wants a treatment you do not think they need
- Carrying worry home about someone you could not fully help in one visit
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 264231, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.