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OaSIS 2025 Version 1.0
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31102.00 – General practitioners and family physicians

General practitioners and family physicians diagnose and treat the diseases, physiological disorders and injuries of patients. They provide primary contact and continuous care toward the management of patients' health. Residents in training to be general practitioners or family physicians are included in this unit group.

Overview

Example job titles

  • Family physician
  • General practice resident
  • General practitioner (GP)
  • Medical doctor

Core competencies

  • Critical Thinking, Decision Making and Problem Solving to analyze complex medical cases, evaluate symptoms, address challenges that may arise during patient care and make informed decisions about diagnoses or treatment plans
  • Oral Communication: Active Listening to gather essential information that may not be immediately obvious, interpret non-verbal cues and build rapport with patients
  • Problem Identification and Inductive Reasoning to analyze diagnostic test results, patient concerns and symptoms to develop reasonable conclusions about diagnoses or identify the need for specialist consultation
  • Verbal Ability and Speech Clarity to communicate patients' case histories to specialists and give presentations on births, deaths and contagious and other diseases to government authorities
  • Attention to Detail to closely examine patients, laboratory tests, x-rays and other diagnostic procedures to identify deviations from normal
  • Knowledge in Physical Health to interpret symptoms correctly, recognize abnormalities and formulate appropriate treatment plans tailored to patients' medical histories and current health statuses

Main duties

This group performs some or all of the following duties:

  • Examine patients and take their histories, order laboratory tests, X-rays and other diagnostic procedures and consult with other medical practitioners to evaluate patients' physical and mental health
  • Prescribe and administer medications and treatments
  • Perform and assist in routine surgery
  • Provide emergency care
  • Provide acute care management
  • Vaccinate patients to prevent and treat diseases
  • Deliver babies and provide pre-natal and post-natal care
  • Advise patients and their families on health care including health promotion, disease, illness and accident prevention
  • Provide counselling and support to patients and their families on a wide range of health and lifestyle issues
  • Perform patient advocacy role
  • Coordinate or manage primary patient care
  • Provide continuous care to patients
  • Supervise home care services
  • Report births, deaths, and contagious and other diseases to governmental authorities.

Additional information

  • General practitioners and family physicians may become specialist physicians with additional training.

Similar occupations classified elsewhere

Exclusions:

  • Chiropractors (31201)
  • Managers in health care (30010)
  • Nurse practitioners (31302)
  • Other professional occupations in health diagnosing and treating (31209)
  • Physician assistants, midwives and allied health professionals (31303)
  • Specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine (31100)

NOC hierarchy breakdown

NOC version

NOC 2021 Version 1.0

Broad occupational category

3 – Health occupations

TEER

1 – Occupations usually require a university degree

Major group

31 – Professional occupations in health

Sub-major group

311 – Health treating and consultation services professionals

Minor group

3110 – Physicians and veterinarians

Unit group

31102 – General practitioners and family physicians

Occupational profile

31102.00 – General practitioners and family physicians

O*NET in-it

This page includes information from the O*NET 27.2 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Employment and Social Development Canada has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.