General and Family Medicine / General Practice

The General and Family Medicine doctor (GFM) is the Medical Specialist that works on the front line of the health care system, a generalist that accepts all people whatever the age, sex or illness, addressing every human being as a whole, encompassing all General Medicine, considering the person as unique and different to all others and concentrating on providing primary care.

Focusing on providing primary, preventative and curative care which is comprehensive, integral and continuous to individuals, their families and the community. Making up the primary element of a process of continued health care monitoring.

This specialty combines very comprehensive medical knowledge with the art of communication bringing back into the doctor/patient relationship the human connection which was lost with the ultra-specialisation of medicine.

The Family and Community Doctor should create a strong bond with their patients even before they become ill, preventing illness, being the first doctor to be consulted, attending to people of all ages in an integral and ongoing way and working within an interdisciplinary team consisting of other specialists when their support is needed.

In GFM there is no division between prevention and cure and all illnesses can be addressed. According to world literature it resolves 80 to 90% of all health problems.

Characterists of this speciality

The unique characteristics of GFM, making it different from traditional hospital practice or from the other medical specialties, include:

• A gateway service – the first contact of the patient with medical field.
• Integrality, the primary level is responsible for all health care problems in the context of family and community, not limited to the purely biological human body.
• Continuity of care, a lifelong bond, resulting in more efficient service.
• Personalised treatment.
• Prevention, promoting health.
• Early diagnosis of severe and potentially fatal diseases.
• Treatment of acute and chronic illnesses.
• Care services; Emergency, domiciliary, family and palliative.
• Coordination of health care, organising and coordinating care carried out by professionals in different areas.

Procedures of this speciality carried out at the HPA Group

Primary care is all encompassing, involving the capacity to carry out actions and take responsible decisions before any problems present themselves to the patient.  There are no specific procedures, from a technical point of view, that can be considered specific to GFM.

In providing primary care there are many ill-defined illnesses seen, the general / family medicine practitioner often deals with multiple problems, rather than established diseases, making it necessary to use the wide variety of resources that are available at the HPA Group.

In this Medical Specialty the individual is assessed combining their biological, psychological and social elements. Besides addressing most of the problems presented in primary health care, the Family Doctor should adopt the actions of preventative medicine as well as understanding the family dynamic their patients are involved in.

The clinical practitioner should be capable of carrying out a complete holistic evaluation of the person.

Related Exams

Due to the encompassing scope, transversalty and extent of care provided by General Medicine / Family and Community all complementary exams of health care evaluation that are considered clinically necessary are broadly used.

Strong points of this speciality in the HPA Group

The various structures of the HPA Group, hospitals and Clinics spread throughout the Algarve, allow for the GFM specialty to develop within the Group in all its aspects, fully, in ideal conditions, as all the  necessary areas of care are available so that optimal conditions are met to give the integrated care that is the unique mark of this specialty.

The treatment of acute cases is carried out in the context of outpatient care, on the same day, either in the Hospitals or within the community in the satellite clinics.  

Continuity of care is guaranteed in further programmed consultations either with the same doctor, or the patient’s doctor of choice, who will be informed of the acute episode.

The extensive network of diagnostic complementary exams and Specialties available to both outpatient and inpatient, along with access to computerised records encompassing the medical history of the patient, permits the GFM Specialist to easily coordinate all available data, resulting in timely, rapid and efficient treatment or prevention.