The family practice focuses on comprehensive family health care. This often includes routine checkups and immunizations and treating patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes or heart disease. Family practice doctors such as Dr. Kalpana Desai also provide prenatal care, deliver babies and help patients cope with physical and mental problems.
The benefits of the family practice include:
Preventive care
Family doctors provide routine physicals, immunizations, and screenings to help prevent illness or detect it early when it is easier to treat. They also screen for specific health conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes and ensure their patients follow up with specialists if necessary.
Treatment
Family doctors treat acute illnesses like colds or flu and chronic diseases like high blood pressure or diabetes. They also have expertise in treating mental health issues like depression, anxiety, or substance abuse.
Helping cut healthcare costs
Family doctors can prevent you from needing more expensive treatments by catching problems early on. For example, if a patient has diabetes well controlled by medication, they may not have to have an amputation later in life. The same goes for high blood pressure or heart disease.
Reduce hospitalizations and ER visits
People with chronic conditions like asthma or depression often need regular checkups with their family doctor to manage their condition, reducing the risk of hospitalization or emergency room visits due to an asthma attack or mental health crisis.
Providing more affordable healthcare
Specialists often charge more than family practice physicians. That is because they see fewer patients each day than those who work in generalist settings like urgent care clinics or emergency rooms, where they see hundreds or even thousands of patients yearly. Their fees are also higher because they typically require expensive equipment.
Reduce visits to multiple specialists
A single appointment with a family practitioner may allow you to see multiple specialists in one place without making separate appointments at each doctor’s office or clinic. This can save time and money and reduce stress related to coordinating appointments among different providers within your network of care providers.
Understands the family medical history
Family doctors see each family member individually, so they know your health history better than any other doctor you might see. They can spot potential problems early while they are still easy to treat or prevent, especially if you have chronic illnesses or take medicines regularly.
Provides holistic care
Family doctors understand how all aspects of your life can affect your health, not just what is happening in your body right now or over the next few months, but also what happens over time with diet and exercise habits and other lifestyle choices that could pose risks for later-in-life health problems like diabetes or cardiovascular disease.
An understanding of many different medical issues
Family physicians are trained to see patients from birth through death and know how all types of diseases affect different age groups. This knowledge allows them to provide better care for patients with multiple conditions or chronic illnesses such as diabetes or heart disease.
