A general duty medical officer is a post found in many commonwealth countries and derives it’s name from the Royal Army where GDMO was the person responsible for the general health of recruits. However, the position has evolved over years and different countries have different responsibilities added to job description.
Generally speaking a GDMO is responsible for:
- Seeing new patients in internal medicine, emergency, general surgery, obs/gyne and pediatrics departments.
- Putting in history and doing investigations to diagnose a patient.
- Following through patient with a specialist or consultant (attending physician in USA).
- Discharging patients home if the GDMO is a member of the primary team.