High opportunity occupation
About this job
General practitioners and family physicians diagnose and treat illnesses and injuries. The terms “general practitioner”—or GP—and “family physician” are names for the same job with the same duties.
Family physicians provide primary care, which means that they act as a patient’s main health care contact and they work with the patient to manage their general health over the long term.
In this job, GPs may:
- Work in a private practice, at a community health centre, clinic, nursing home, hospital, or for government and other types of health organizations
- Travel to hospitals to give specific types of patient care
- Provide in-home care to patients
- Help patients from the community at large or focus on a specific type of patient care, such as maternity, palliative, mental health and addiction, and others
GPs need to have good social skills, as they must be able to talk to patients about problems with their health, which can be very serious. To give patients the best possible care, they must keep updating their technical skills and knowledge throughout their careers. They must also have good analytical skills.
Watch the video below to see what a day in the life of a general practitioner is like.
5:14
Common job titles
- GP (general practitioner)
- locum doctor
- MD (doctor of medicine)
- medical - civil aviation
- medical - industrial
- missionary, medical
- MOH (medical officer of health)
- physician, intern
- physician, resident
- practitioner, family / general
- GP (general practitioner)
- locum doctor
- MD (doctor of medicine)
- medical - civil aviation
- medical - industrial
- missionary, medical
- MOH (medical officer of health)
- physician, intern
- physician, resident
- practitioner, family / general
Earnings
Annual provincial median salary
$160,631
Source:
2020 Wage Bank Data (Median employment income from Canadian Institute for Health Information and Canadian Medical Association - custom tabulation)
Provincial hourly rate
N/A - Data not available
Source: 2020 Job Bank Wage Report