Family Medicine Physicians
Diagnose, treat, and provide preventive care to individuals and families across the lifespan. May refer patients to specialists when needed for further diagnosis or treatment.
Most important skills
- Critical Thinking
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Writing
- Speaking
- Active Learning
- Monitoring
- Complex Problem Solving
Key knowledge
- Medicine and Dentistry
- English Language
- Therapy and Counseling
- Psychology
- Biology
- Customer and Personal Service
- Computers and Electronics
- Mathematics
What the work involves
- Prescribe or administer treatment, therapy, medication, vaccination, and other specialized medical care to treat or prevent illness, disease, or injury.
- Order, perform, and interpret tests and analyze records, reports, and examination information to diagnose patients' condition.
- Monitor patients' conditions and progress and reevaluate treatments as necessary.
- Collect, record, and maintain patient information, such as medical history, reports, or examination results.
- Explain procedures and discuss test results or prescribed treatments with patients.
- Advise patients and community members concerning diet, activity, hygiene, and disease prevention.
- Refer patients to medical specialists or other practitioners when necessary.
- Direct and coordinate activities of nurses, students, assistants, specialists, therapists, and other medical staff.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Investigative, Conventional.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Doctoral Degree (59.1% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (69.9%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (48.1%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 5: Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Family Medicine Physicians is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 99% of occupations compared | 100% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 93% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 99% of occupations compared | 98% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 99% of occupations compared | 98% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 97% of occupations compared | 83% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 87% of occupations compared | 60% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 87% of occupations compared | 67% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 99% of occupations compared | 97% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 0.22%
- Constant contact with others: 99.78%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 3.44%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 0.34%
- Very important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2020
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 0%
- Very important: 2.03%
- Extremely important: 97.97%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2020
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 0%
- Some freedom: 2.33%
- A lot of freedom: 97.67%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2020
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 2.37%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 6.06%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 8.41%
- Every day: 83.16%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2020
Conflict situations
- Never: 4.54%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 16.4%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 7.53%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 60.45%
- Every day: 11.08%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 4.54%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 9.02%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 11.97%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 66.62%
- Every day: 7.85%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2020
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 0%
- Fairly serious: 0%
- Serious: 0.23%
- Very serious: 2.69%
- Extremely serious: 97.08%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2020
Is this career right for me? Find jobs with conditions you prefer
Where people with this background could move
Find more alternativesCompare skills with another job
O*NET-SOC 29-1215.00 · SOC 29-1215 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8