A Family physician is a close and reliable doctor with whom you can talk about all matters concerning your health; a physician who can refer you to specialized medical facilities, if necessary.
Family physicians will refer you to appropriate medical institutions when you need to be hospitalized, have advanced medical testing, or need to consult with other medical departments. They also provide health checkups, vaccinations, and health consultations. Additionally, they provide early diagnosis of dementia, consultations on long-term care insurance, and fill out the chief physician’s opinion form required for long-term care certification. They work in the community as nursery and school physicians, industrial physicians and visiting physicians.
Shibuya Medical Association provides a consultation service to help you find a family physician. In addition to providing information on medical institutions and consultation on home medical care, we also provide health consultations. Please do not hesitate to call the Shibuya Medical Association General Health Consultation Desk (in Japanese).
For example, we can help you with the following.
Find appropriate medical facilities
- Consultation on hospitalization and advanced testing
- Find a different medical department
Health counseling
- Health screening
- Immunization
- Health counseling
Consultations on home medical and nursing care
- Diagnose early stage dementia
- Consult on long-term care insurance
- Write a chief physician’s opinion required for long-term required care certification
Medical activities in the community
- Work in the community as a nursery or school physician
- Work as an industrial physician
- Work as a visiting physician
To Learn More
You can consult the following documentation to learn more about family phyisicians (only available in Japanese):
「かかりつけ医を持ちましょう」on the Japan Medical Association Website
「かかりつけ医って、なぁに」 brochure from the Japan Medical Association PDF（1.3MB）