Family Medicine requires it's practitioner to be not just a clinician, but also an advocate, coordinator, counselor , information resource and at times support for their patients. By breaking free from the limitations of age, sex and type of problem in defining their scope of practice, Family physicians are in an unique position to understand and treat the protean manifestations of clinical, behavioral and psychosocial problems across the entire frame of a lifetime. The clinical settings in which Family physicians work are as varied as the scope of their practice. Most often, Family physicians work as solo or group practitioners with both office and hospital care of their patients. Family physicians who develop a special interest in certain fields also work in substance abuse and detox programs, assist surgical procedures in Operation rooms, do outpatient or office procedures and also work in Labor and delivery suites.
Some physicians choose career paths in administration, public health or teaching.
Family physicians have work schedules that vary considerably. Family Practice residency is a structured three year residency program, that provides future family physicians an integrated inpatient and outpatient learning experience. Different residencies provide varying opportunities to develop specific office procedural skills. Some programs emphasize urban population care while others emphasize a rural training track. In 1998, there were 475 accredited programs for Family Practice providing more than 10,500 residency positions.