ABSTRACT

Primary care is an essential level of health care in every health system. Primary care is often the first contact with the health care system and for the patient features are direct access and availability 24 hours a day. Primary care encompasses a true spectrum of morbidity in a community. A generalist physician will encounter all grades of all types of illness and disease reflecting their true rates of prevalence in the population. The ambition of a primary physician must be to have the best qualities of a personal doctor while also knowing the patient's family and accepting concerns and responsibilities for the local community. The basic principles of good medical practice apply to primary care just as much as to subspecialty care. A hospital may be the only access point for persons who do not have the availability of community-based physicians, and therefore hospitals must do more than merely provide emergency facilities.