{"id":835,"date":"2026-06-11T05:02:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T05:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/practicahealthcare.ap.applyflow.com\/?p=835"},"modified":"2026-06-17T23:09:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T23:09:10","slug":"what-to-expect-first-gp-practice-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.practicahealthcare.com.au\/candidates\/what-to-expect-first-gp-practice-role\/","title":{"rendered":"What to expect in your first GP practice role"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>It\u2019s a clinic and a small business<\/h4>\n<p>General practice runs on a business model, and that shapes the day in ways hospital roles don\u2019t. Appointment lengths, billing, and how your time is structured all matter to how the practice works. You don\u2019t need to become an accountant, but understanding how the practice operates will help you settle in faster and have better conversations with the people running it.<\/p>\n<h4>Your patient base builds over time<\/h4>\n<p>Few people walk in with a full book on day one. Building a steady patient list takes months, not weeks, and that\u2019s completely normal. Early on, your days might be quieter than you expect. Use that time to learn the practice\u2019s systems, get to know the team, and build the relationships that bring patients back.<\/p>\n<h4>Billing and Medicare take a minute to learn<\/h4>\n<p>The billing side, item numbers, bulk-billing versus private, and how Medicare fits in, is one of the steeper early learning curves. Most practices will show you the ropes, and it does click with time. Don\u2019t be shy about asking; everyone learns it the same way, and getting it right matters for both you and the practice.<\/p>\n<h4>You\u2019re part of a team<\/h4>\n<p>Reception, practice managers, nurses, allied health: a good practice runs on the people around the consult room as much as in it. Learning who does what, and treating the non-clinical team as colleagues rather than support, makes the whole job smoother. The practices people stay at are almost always the ones with a good team culture.<\/p>\n<h4>Give yourself time to settle<\/h4>\n<p>The first few months can feel like a lot: new systems, new faces, a new pace. That\u2019s normal, and it passes. Most people find their feet within a few months and wonder what they were worried about. Ask questions, lean on the team, and don\u2019t expect to have it all figured out in week one.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re weighing up a move into general practice and want a frank conversation about what a particular practice is really like, that\u2019s where a specialist recruiter earns their keep. Get in touch and we\u2019ll give you the honest version.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Moving into general practice, whether you\u2019re coming from hospital training or stepping into a new practice, is a different rhythm to what came before. The medicine is familiar; a lot of the rest is new. Here\u2019s an honest picture of what to expect in the early months, so the surprises are smaller.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-candidates"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.practicahealthcare.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.practicahealthcare.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.practicahealthcare.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.practicahealthcare.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.practicahealthcare.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.practicahealthcare.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":915,"href":"https:\/\/www.practicahealthcare.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835\/revisions\/915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.practicahealthcare.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.practicahealthcare.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.practicahealthcare.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.practicahealthcare.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}