The three-year residency program is designed to prepare family physicians to diagnose and treat a broad spectrum of illness and to provide continuing, comprehensive health maintenance and medical care to the entire family regardless of sex, age or body organ. In fact, the same doctor can care for every member of the family, from newborn to elderly . Specific medical care that family physicians provide include routine prenatal, obstetrical, newborn, pediatric, and well-child care. Adult female patients receive gynecological as well as routine medical care. With older adults, the emphasis is on geriatric health maintenance in addition to the treatment of acute and chronic diseases.
Family physicians perform a variety of office, surgical and diagnostic procedures.
These include minor skin surgery or biopsy, sigmoidoscopy , vasectomy , simple fracture and colposcopy. Family physicians also provide a variety of office counseling needs. They advise patients on topics ranging from life changes and family events to emotional adjustment to chronic disease. They provide guidance in situations involving psychiatric illness. They discuss issues of medical ethics surrounding terminal care or advance preparation of a living will .