ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the various components of the family doctor's role itself, with a view to helping the individual family doctor to make her own choices about her role. It discusses some broader aspects of the family doctor's role and its implications. The obligations of the family doctor's role can be considered under four headings, namely efficacy, professionalism, patient expectations and personality, and every family doctor's chosen role must be consistent with these obligations. Patients who attend their family doctor regularly will also have developed specific expectations based on their ongoing relations with that one family doctor, and so may be more tolerant of idiosyncrasy. Most family doctors want to express themselves, and that includes the expression of their personality, through their work. A job description for a family doctor also has implications for the training, assessment and discipline of family doctors.
