5 Types Of Doctors You Need To See

This might surprise you but a doctor who has just graduated out of medical school knows little about practical patient care.

They have the right knowledge, but they need anywhere between 3 to 10 years of further training to be able to use that knowledge for safe and effective patient care. Once they undergo these additional training years, they become specialised in a specific field. 

So not every doctor is the same, and in this article, we’ll discuss the 5 types you might need to see during your life.

1. General Physician 

A general physician (GP) is the first doctor you’ll see as you come in contact with the healthcare system. The job of a GP is to ensure your overall physical and mental health is optimal.

They are trained to diagnose and treat some of the more common conditions that patients show up with. To do this, your GP might perform a basic clinical exam on you and ask detailed questions about your symptoms as part of the history.

They might also order basic tests like a complete blood picture, lipid profile, and X-ray to confirm their diagnosis.

Importantly, you don’t have to visit a GP only when you’re ill. Seeing your doctor annually is a good way to pick up silent health conditions like high blood pressure and cholesterol. 

A GP can measure your blood pressure within 5 minutes during your appointment. And these 5 minutes can potentially save your life. Because if not treated early, hypertension can wreck every organ in your body.

Although GPs are trained doctors, they’ll refer you to a specialist if you present with a rare disease or if your symptoms don’t respond to treatment. But overall, a GP is one of the most important people responsible for looking after your health.

2. Gastroenterologist 

A gastroenterologist is trained in diagnosing and treating diseases related to your:

• Gut
• Liver
• Oesophagus — which is the tube that connects your mouth and stomach
• Pancreas — a small organ that sits behind your stomach and secretes digestive enzymes
• Gallbladder

Common conditions that a gastroenterologist treats include:

• Hepatitis — inflammation of the liver
• Gastroesophageal reflux disease — this is commonly known as heartburn and is one of the most common diseases a gastroenterologist treats
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Gallbladder stones
• Gallbladder inflammation
• Inflammation of the pancreas
• Gut cancer

Although gastroenterology is a medical field (vs surgical fields), gastroenterologists are trained in performing basic surgical procedures. For example, they can insert a thin, flexible tube attached to a camera inside your gut to look for disease. This is called an endoscopy.

They can also insert a scope inside your anus to look for signs of colorectal cancer — this procedure is called a colonoscopy. Colorectal cancer initially shows up as polyps, which are tiny outgrowths of gut lining.

A gastroenterologist is trained to remove these polyps and send them to a lab for analysis, which is the first step of diagnosing colorectal cancer.

If you’re over 40, it’s a good idea to regularly visit a gastroenterologist for colorectal cancer screening. Screening tests for cancer include faecal occult blood test (which looks for blood in your stool) and colonoscopy. 

For more information on screening procedures, be sure to call your local gastroenterologist. If you don’t have one, check out The Centre for Gastrointestinal Health for a Sydney gastroenterologist.

3. Neurologist 

You might need to see a neurologist as you get older. They are training in dealing with diseases of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves. Examples include:

• Alzheimer’s disease
• Epilepsy
• Stroke — the risk of stroke is especially high in people with high blood pressure and cholesterol
• Parkinson’s disease — signs of Parkinson’s include difficulty in movement and a “pill-rolling” hand tremor
• Neuropathy
• Neuromuscular junction disorders like myasthenia gravis (MG) — if your eyelids feel heavy and tired by the end of the day, you might have MG and should visit a neurologist

Perhaps the most important of these is Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which is the most common cause of dementia in the elderly. If you’re over 65 and are experiencing problems with your memory, this might be a sign of AD and should prompt a visit to a neurologist.

Depending on your symptoms, an appointment with a neurologist can involve basic neurological examination. This tests your memory, cognitive skills, orientation, the strength of your muscles, tendon reflexes, and cranial nerve function (which are nerves that go to the muscles of your face, neck, tongue, and eyes).

4. Cardiologist 

Cardiovascular disease is among the three leading causes of death, which is why a cardiologist is an extremely important doctor.

Cardiologists are trained in diagnosing and treating disease related to the heart and blood vessels like:

• Angina — where the heart’s blood supply is reduced, which causes chest pain
• Heart attack — where the blood supply to the heart is severely reduced, leading to cell death
• Heart failure
• Atherosclerosis — this is where bad lipids start building up in your blood vessels and is the basis of heart attack and stroke
• Peripheral vascular disease — when there is reduced blood supply to the limbs

One important subtype of cardiology is interventional cardiology. In addition to basic cardiology training, interventional cardiologists are trained in treating heart diseases through catheter-based procedures.

One example of a catheter-based procedure is stenting. This is where a hollow tube is inserted into a blood vessel feeding the heart to open it up. This leads to better blood flow to the organ and reduced chest pain.

5. Endocrinologist 

Endocrinologists deal with diseases affecting the body’s hormonal systems. They are also the doctors responsible for managing diabetes, which is one the most common hormonal diseases worldwide. 

Other problems endocrinologists treat include:

• Thyroid diseases, which are more common in young women
• Reproductive hormone diseases, which can occur if the testes (in men) and ovaries (in women) stop working normally
• Metabolic diseases of the bone like osteoporosis, which is very common in post-menopausal women
• Adrenal gland diseases. These glands are found above your kidneys and regulate blood pressure and salt balance in your body.
• Pituitary gland diseases. This is a small gland in the brain and produces a wide range of organs regulating vital functions like growth. It also regulates the menstrual cycle and milk production in women.

As you can see, endocrinological diseases disrupt important bodily functions (like menstrual cycle and growth), which is why they can be very annoying. So an endocrinologist is one of the most important doctors you’ll see.