General practitioners are regulated in the EU by Directive 2005/36/EC.
In France the médecin généraliste (commonly called médecin de famille) is responsible for primary care medicine, including non-vital emergencies and patient's follow up. This implies prevention, education, care of the diseases and traumas. The general practitionner orientates the patients to other specialists when necessary.

They have a role in the survey of epidemics, a legal role (constatation of traumas that can bring compensation, certificates for the practice of a sport, death certificate, certificate for hospitalisation without consent in case of mental incapacity), and a role in the emergency care (they can be called by the samu, the French EMS). They often go to a patient's home when the patient cannot come to the consulting room (especially in case of children or old people), and have to contribute to night and week-end duties.

The studies consist of six years at university (common to all medical specialities), and four years as a resident (interne) :
• the first year (PASS, Parcours d'Accès Spécifique Santé, often abbreviated to P1 by students) is common with the dentists, pharmacists and midwives. The rank at the final competitive examination determines in which branch the student can choose to study.
• the following two years, called propédeutique, are dedicated to the fundamental sciences: anatomy, human physiology, biochemistry, bacteriology, statistics...
• the three following years are called externat and are dedicated to the study of clinical medicine; they end with a classifying examination, the rank determines in which specialty (general medicine is one of them) the student can make her or his internat;
• the internat is three years -or more depending on the specialty- of initial professional experience under the responsibility of a senior; the interne can prescribe, s/he can replace physicians, and usually works in a hospital.
This ends with a doctorate, a research work which usually consist of a statistical study of cases to propose a care strategy for a specific condition (in an epidemiological, diagnostic, or therapeutic point of view).
General Practice was established as a medical specialty in Greece in 1986. To qualify as a General Practitioner (γενικός ιατρός, genikos iatros) doctors in Greece are required to complete four years of vocational training after medical school, including three years and two months in a hospital setting. General Practitioners in Greece may either work as private specialists or for the National Healthcare Service, ESY (Εθνικ…

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The population of this type of medical practitioner is declining, however. Currently, the Medical Departments of the US Air Force, Army and Navy have many of these general practitioners, known as General Medical Officers or GMOs, in active practice. The GMO is an inherent concept to all military medical branches. GMOs are the gatekeepers of medicine in that they hold the purse strings and decide upon the merit of specialist consultation. The US now holds a different definition for the term "general practitioner". The two terms "general practitioner" and "family practice" were synonymous prior to 1970. At that time both terms (if used within the US) referred to someone who completed medical school and the one-year required internship, and then worked as a general family doctor. Completion of a post-graduate specialty training program or residency in family medicine was, at that time, not a requirement. A physician who specializes in "family medicine" must now complete a residency in family medicine and must be eligible for board certification, which is required by many hospitals and health plans for hospital privileges and remuneration, respectively. It was not until the 1970s that family medicine was recognized as a specialty in the US.

Many licensed family medical practitioners in the United States after this change began to use the term "general practitioner" to refer to those practitioners who previously did not complete a family medicine residency. Family physicians (after completing medical school) must then complete three to four years of additional residency in family medicine. Three hundred hours of medical education within the prior six years is also required to be eligible to sit for the board certification exam; these hours are largely acquired during residency training.

The existing general practitioners in the 1970s were given the choice to be grandfathered into the newly created specialty of Family Practice. In 1971 the American Academy of General Practice changed its name to the American Academy of Family Physicians. The prior system of graduating from medical school and completing one year of post-graduate training (rotating internship) was not abolished as 47 of the 50 states allow a physician to obtain a medical license without completion of residency. If one wanted to become a "house-call-making" type of physician, one still needs to only complete one or two years of a residency in either pediatrics, family medicine or internal medicine. This would make a physician a non-board eligible general practitioner able to qualify and obtain a license to practice medicine in 47 of the 50 United States of America. Since the establishment of the Board of Family Medicine, a family medicine physician is no longer the same as a general practitioner. What makes a Family Medicine Physician different from a General Practitioner/Physician is two-fold. First off a F…

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General Practice in Australia and New Zealand has undergone many changes in training requirements over the past decade. The basic medical degree in Australia is the MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery), which has traditionally been attained after completion of an undergraduate five or six-year course. Over the last few years, an ever-increasing number of post-graduate four-year medical programs (previous bachelor's degree required) have become more common and now account more than half of all Australian medical graduates. After graduating, a one-year internship is completed in a public and private hospitals prior to obtaining full registration. Many newly registered medical practitioners undergo one year or more of pre-vocational position as Resident Medical Officers (different titles depending on jurisdictions) before specialist training begins. For general practice training, the medical practitioner then applies to enter a three- or four-year program either through the "Australian General Practice Training Program", "Remote Vocational Training Scheme" or "Independent Pathway". The Australian Government has announced an expansion of the number of GP training places through the AGPT program- 1,500 places per year will be available by 2015.

A combination of coursework and apprenticeship type training leading to the awarding of the FRACGP (Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners) or FACRRM (Fellowship of Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine), if successful. Since 1996 this qualification or its equivalent has been required in order for new GPs to access Medicare rebates as a specialist general practitioner. Doctors who graduated prior to 1992 and who had worked in general practice for a specified period of time were recognized as "Vocationally Registered" or "VR" GPs, and given automatic and continuing eligibility for general practice Medicare rebates. There is a sizable group of doctors who have identical qualifications and experience, but who have been denied access to VR recognition. They are termed "Non-Vocationally Registered" or so-called "non-VR" GPs. The federal government of Australia recognizes the experience and competence of these doctors, by allowing them access to the "specialist" GP Medicare rebates for working in areas of government policy priority, such as areas of workforce shortage, and metropolitan after hours service. Some programs awarded permanent and unrestricted eligibility for VR rebate levels after 5 years of practice under the program. There is a community-based campaign in support of these so-called Non-VR doctors being granted full and permanent recognition of their experience and expertise, as fully identical with the previous generation of pre-1996 "grandfathered" GPs. This campaign is supported by the official policy of the Australian Medical Association (AMA).

Medicare is Australia's universal health insurance system, and without access to it, a practitioner cannot effectively work in private practice in Australia.

Procedural General Practice training in combination with General Practice Fellowship was first established by the "Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine" in 2004. This new fellowship was developed in aid to recognise the specialised skills required to work within a rural and remote context. In addition it was hoped to recognise the impending urgency of training Rural Procedural Practitioners to sustain Obstetric and Surgical services within rural Australia. …

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