What it’s really like in family medicine—from 6 physicians who know

As a medical student, do you ever wonder what it’s like to specialize in family medicine? Over the years, six family physicians from around the country and working in a variety of practice settings have taken the time to be featured doctors in the AMA’s "Shadow Me” Specialty Series, which offers advice directly from AMA member physicians about life in their specialties. Check out their insights to help determine whether a career in family medicine might be a good fit for you.

1. Shadowing James Jerzak, MD

   1. For this 2022 profile, Dr. Jerzak discussed his life as an employed physician practicing as part of a 30-location primary care group in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Dr. Jerzak, who has been in practice for nearly four decades, described how his health system was “an early adopter of the team-based care movement that is emerging—to combat burnout, as well as to improve the care of our patients. One part of this transformation has been a redesign of the office visit, empowering our medical assistants (MAs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs) to take on expanded roles.”
   2. These health professionals “take a more active role in quality measure improvement, and they often stay in the room with me to do most of the documentation, medication refill pending, and other work in the electronic health record,” he said. “This frees me up to give my full attention to the patient, without having to worry about the data entry work that contributes to burnout.”

2. Shadowing Sumi Makkar Sexton, MD

   1. Dr. Sexton is a family physician in private practice with Premier Primary Care Physicians in Arlington, Virginia, and her practice is a proud part of Privia Health—a member of the AMA Health System Program, which provides enterprise solutions to equip leadership, physicians and care teams with resources to help drive the future of medicine.
   2. “My days vary, which is one thing that keeps me going,” said Dr. Sexton, an AMA member. “Monotony bores me, and I thrive on different schedules, patient encounters, work settings, and then finally settling into family time and social events. It is all about balance to me—embracing changes and challenges but setting boundaries when needed to reduce burnout.”

3. Shadowing Rambod A. Rouhbakhsh, MD

   1. Dr. Rouhbakhsh practices academic family medicine, as well occupational and environmental medicine, and is associate program director at the Forrest General Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program. He also is principal investigator for Hattiesburg Clinic MediSync Clinical Research. Mississippi’s Hattiesburg Clinic also is a member of the AMA Health System Program.
   2. “Academic family medicine is exceedingly rewarding,” he said, “not just because it involves teaching, but because academic family medicine can be situated in community-based hospitals, allowing you greater flexibility to live where you wish.”

4. Shadowing Christopher Garofalo, MD

   1. Dr. Garofalo works in a private, independently owned outpatient practice in Attleboro, Massachusetts. He has been in practice for over two decades, incorporating obstetrics into his family medicine practice.
   2. “Seeing patients across decades” is clearly the most rewarding part of family medicine, Dr. Garofalo said in this 2021 profile. “We watch newborns grow up to have their own babies, parents become grandparents and all sorts of people manage mild to severe medical issues. We also get to see multiple generations and branches of a family and their friends and their families.”

5. Shadowing Jordan Despain, MD

   1. Dr. Despain is a partner in a multispecialty group in Central Washington affiliated with Confluence Health, another member of the AMA Health System Program.
   2. “I work four days a week, and I am also the manager of our physician group, so I have a half day of administration time,” he said. “My lifestyle is largely what I envisioned while I was in medical school, although I did not expect to work four days a week. I thought I’d be working five days a week. I think I have a little more time to travel than I expected as well. 
   3. “I have four kids,” he added, “and the first was born the year before I started medical school, so that really forced me to find a balance between work and family, which has been valuable to me. I think it can be easy to be consumed by medical learning and practice, so it is important to find ways to continue being who you are outside of medicine.”

6. Shadowing Carl Lambert, MD

   1. Dr. Lambert works in an outpatient clinic at an academic medical center, Rush Medical Center in Chicago. The medical center is part of the Rush University System for Health, which is a member of the AMA Health System Program.
   2. “The best thing is journeying and seeing patients and my students through challenging situations,” Dr. Lambert said. “You really get to see the ups and celebrate with them, but also feel the lows. When a patient passes away or if someone in their family passes away, as their family doctor, I get to know everyone in the context of the family unit. So you feel very deeply for what's going on with your patients, which is kind of like a double-edged sword.” 
   3. One major challenge he sees is “balancing the many needs that patients come in with. As a family doctor, you're the one-stop shop, so they come to you for pretty much everything. Even if they see a specialist, you're the translator. They often say, ‘Well, I saw my cardiologist, but I don't even know what the heck they said.’ So, what does that mean? It’s about that coordinated care.”

The AMA Specialty Guide simplifies medical students’ specialty selection process, highlights major specialties, details training information, and provides access to related association information. It is produced by FREIDA™, the AMA Residency & Fellowship Database^®.

Learn more with the AMA about the medical specialty of family medicine.