Medical Staff

Unit clerks work very closely with physicians in the hospital, processing orders for patient care.  There are many different types of physicians and the NUC must be familiar with each of their roles.

  • General Practitioners

  • Hospitalists

  • Specialists

  • Surgeons

  • Medical Students

General Practitioner:

The General Practitioner (GP), or Family Practitioner is your family doctor.  GPs provide general medical care to patients of all ages.  They have various roles, which may include:

  • seeing their patients in their clinic or office

  • referring their patients to specialists and surgeons when necessary

  • daily rounds at the hospital to see their patients who've been admitted

  • assisting surgeons in the Operating Room

  • doing on-call shifts in the Emergency

Hospitalist:

A Hospitalist is a physician whose primary professional focus in the general medical care of hospitalized patients; they may not work in an office/clinic or have assigned patients/clients.  The majority of physicians in Canada who identify themselves as Hospitalists have a training background in Family Practice, but there are also some specialty Hospitalists such as an Internist Hospitalist.  Hospitalists often work scheduled shifts in the Emergency, may care for "unassigned" or "orphaned" patients (those who don't have a family doctor or who are from out of the area) on the inpatient care units, or may also cover an entire inpatient unit on scheduled shifts. 

Specialist:

Physicians who have additional training in one specific area of medicine are called specialists.  There are many different types of specialties, including:

  • Anesthesiologist

  • Endocrinologist

  • Gastroenterologist

  • Gynecologist

  • Internist

  • Neonatologist

  • Nephrologist

  • Neurologist

  • Obstetrician

  • Oncologist

  • Ophthalmologist

  • Orthopedist

  • Otolaryngologist

  • Pathologist

  • Pediatrician

  • Radiologist

  • Rheumatologist

  • Urologist

If you are not familiar with any of the above terms for medical specialists, search in your Medical Dictionary.

Surgeon:

A surgeon is a physician that has been trained to perform operative procedures in the treatment of patients.  When a patient requires a surgical procedure, they are referred to a surgeon.  The surgeon arranges the surgical procedure at the hospital.  The patient is admitted to the hospital by the surgeon; only a surgeon can admit a patient for a surgical procedure.

General Surgeons perform a wide variety of operative procedures.  Many surgeons are specialist surgeons, for example:

  • Gynecology Surgeon

  • Neurosurgeon

  • Oncology Surgeon

  • Orthopedic Surgeon (sometimes called Orthopods - slang)

  • Plastics Surgeon

  • Thoracic Surgeon

  • Urology Surgeon

  • Vascular Surgeon

NOTE:  There is a difference between a Medical specialty and a Surgical specialty; some specialists may be both. For example, a Medical Oncologist would not perform surgery; an Oncology Surgeon would.