FP in military

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dj_smooth

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Just wondering if any knew if being an FP in the military, specifically navy, was worth doing or are they mostly clinic guys for sick-call, etc. As I will be a USFMG, and therefore will need to complete a residency before going in. I guess I don't want to just be an outpatient doc. Thoughts?

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The overwhelming majority of military medicine (Air Force, Army, Navy) is sick call.

So what do you think you will be doing? Sick Call. Even when you deploy with forward units you will be doing sick call.

The stuff on TV.....small fraction of what goes on.
 
Agree with MilMD on this one, FPs are the clinic guys, which are overrun with sick-call, dependent care and space-available retirees. In the Navy, there are GMOs for some of this as well, but FP is definitely used to man the outpatient clinics and not the hospitals.

"Sick call" with an individual unit is really just primary care on a young patient population. I'd get used to the idea of "sick call" no matter where you ultimately practice FP. There's probably no more abuse of the FPs in the military than any other medical system with ready access to MDs with no financial disincentive to seeking care (no copay). Inner city clinics, workman's comp, etc. come to mind.

DO an IM residency if you want to do any inpatient, though what MilMD said still largely applies at some hospitals and forward deployed units. Even as an FMG, you might be able to do just a civilian internship and then a GMO tour, to decide if primary care is really your thing. Not too many GMOs return to primary care.
 
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