primary care physician
primary care physician — noun
1. a doctor who treats everyday health problems, carries out routine checkups, and
a doctor who treats everyday health problems, carries out routine checkups, and coordinates a patient's overall long-term medical care, usually in a local clinic rather than a hospital
Mark visits his primary care physician every year for blood tests and a checkup.
collocation: visits his [PCP] for [purpose]
When Lan developed a persistent cough, her primary care physician prescribed an inhaler.
A primary care physician can refer patients to a specialist when further testing is needed.
Rachid's primary care physician noticed his high blood pressure during a routine appointment.
The clinic where Apinya is a primary care physician serves over two thousand local families.
- family doctor
less formal and more common in everyday speech; emphasizes care for all family members
- GP (general practitioner)
standard equivalent term in British English; interchangeable with PCP in UK contexts
- family physician
more formal than 'family doctor', often the official title of a doctor trained in family medicine
- specialist
a doctor with advanced training in one specific area of medicine (e.g., cardiologist, dermatologist)
- surgeon
a doctor who performs operations, rather than providing ongoing general care
用法筆記
Frequently shortened to PCP in informal US medical contexts. In the UK, general practitioner (GP) is the equivalent term. In Taiwan, this role is typically referred to as 家庭醫師 (jiātíng yīshī) under the National Health Insurance system.