Family medicine (or general practice) is a medical specialty focused on comprehensive and ongoing health care for individuals and families across all ages, genders, diseases, and parts of the body. The specialty is rooted in a holistic approach, viewing health and illness in the context of the patient’s life, family, and community.

Both specialties are primary care specialties but there are differences.
Family medicine focuses on patients of all ages, approaches a wide array of health issues, and strongly utilizes a holistic perspective on the patient with their family dynamics and social determinants of health. Internal medicine typically treats adult patients affected by complex diseases, and also has more subspecialties (e.g. cardiology, gastroenterology, etc). 

In the United States, family medicine residency typically lasts for three years. This follows a four-year undergraduate degree and a four-year medical degree. The three-year residency program provides comprehensive training in various medical areas, including internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, and geriatrics, as well as outpatient care, community medicine, and practice management. Some family medicine physicians choose to do additional fellowship training in a specific area after completing their residency.

In short: All family medicine physicians provide primary care, but not all primary care providers are family physicians.

Primary care is the first point of contact a patient has with the healthcare system for their concern, and this contact can be doctors from several specialties. Family medicine in particular is its own medical specialty.

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