Definition: Physicians

Category: Health

The definition of "physicians" varies in the Member States. They are as follows:
BELGIUM:
Data relate to physicians in activity, with and without a medical practice :
 - physicians practising medicine and sometimes preventive medicine in private practice or an institution (physicians exclusively working in preventive medicine are included below) and trainee specialists,
- physicians who are not in clinical practice, include in particular :
* physicians working as civil servants in ministries or as employees of other public agencies, physicians employed by insurance societies ("mutualities"), physicians exclusively employed in preventive medicine ("Psycho-Medico-Social" Centres or Health Centres);
* occupational health physicians;
* physicians employed in medical or industrial research;
* physicians who are no longer employed in a medical or other professional capacity. All public and private hospitals and clinics are included. Stomatologists are included in the number of physicians.  Dentists are not included.
DENMARK:
Figures comprise only physicians who are practising their profession, including physicians receiving postgraduate education and physicians employed in firms (only very few) and public bodies. Physicians working as practitioners and physicians employed in research, pharmaceutical industry, private hospitals and clinics are also included. Dentists are not included.
GERMANY:
Figures refer to practising physicians and include new Länder and East Berlin.  Physicians employed in pharmaceutical industry, medical research and firms or public bodies are also included. The number of physicians includes physicians receiving initial training (Ärtze in praktikum), and includes those undergoing further training (for specialism). All physicians working in private, public and other non-profit making hospitals are included. Stomatologists are not included. Dentists are not included.
GREECE:
There are no statistics on the number of physicians employed in the pharmaceutical industry, medical research, firms or public bodies.  The number of these physicians is included in the overall statistics of specialists and generalists which also include physicians in public and private hospitals and clinics. Figures include non-specialist physicians who are undergoing training (further training) in order to become specialists. Doctors, university diploma holders, enrolled in the Doctor's Association Records. Stomatologists are not included in the number of physicians.  Dentists are not included.  
SPAIN:
Figures concerns all persons covered with an university degree in medicine (whatever their speciality) and registered in the different Colegio Profesional de Médicos. They include both physicians who are practising their profession and those who are registered but not practising.  Stomatologists are included in the number of physicians. Persons who have obtained the degree of stomatologists or odontologists as a speciality of medicine can be registered in the 'Colegio Profesional de Médicos', but the registration is not compulsory for the odontologists. Odontlogists without a degree in a Faculty of Medicine are not included. Dentists are not included.
FRANCE:
Data apply to active physicians : private ("libéraux") and wage earner ("salariés").
- Private physicians : physicians registered in the Medical Order ("Ordre des médecins") with a private practice in a surgery, clinic or laboratory working full or part-time.
- Wage earner physicians : physicians, whether "registered" or not.  They practice in a public or private establishment in the field of health care, preventive medicine, control, teaching, research or administration.  Physicians "full time" "hospitalo-universitaires" may have private practice in hospital, they are included in "Wage Earner". Stomatologists are included in the number of physicians. Dentists are not included.
IRELAND:
The number of physicians includes all persons who are on the register of the Medical Council with addresses in Ireland regardless of whether or not they are practising medicine. The following are included:
- physicians employed in the pharmaceutical industry,
- physician employed in medical research,
- physicians employed in firms or public bodies in exercise of their profession.
- physicians employed in public and private hospitals.
Dentists are not included.
ITALY:
Data (both at national and at regional level) are available from ENPAM (pension fund institution for physicians and dentists) and relate to individuals who, having graduated as physicians and surgeons and received the authority to practise, have been entered in a Provincial Medical Register and by that fact acquired the right to practise. The data include those who follow specialist courses after graduating and receiving the authority to practise. Physicians working in the pharmaceutical industry, in medical research or in public administration are as a rule entered in the Register, but also those working in a field different from health can be registered. It means that a physician can decide not to cancel from the Register and then to continue to be entitled to practise even if he/she is not working in the health field.
LUXEMBOURG:
Up to 1986, figures include physicians authorized to exercise their profession in Luxembourg who are resident in Luxembourg.  They also include physicians who do not exercise their profession, those who not longer do so and those employed in public services or private firms. Since 1987, figures include only physicians who exercise their profession in private practice (hospitals included). Physicians specialized in stomatology are included in the number of physicians.
NETHERLANDS:
The figures cover all authorized physicians entered in the register (of physicians) of the Chief Medical Officer of Public Health, and not noted as retired. The official registration of medical professionals is based on persons who are qualified, by a university degree in medicine (or dentistry), to practice in a medical profession. How many of them are actively practising, whether in private practice or as an employee in a health care institution, is presently not known. The data also include a number of physicians actually living abroad, both near the border in Belgium or Germany, and e.g. in some developing countries. A new Act, the Wet Beroepsuitoefening Individuele Gezondheidszorg [Individual Health Care Professions Act] will come into force by the end of 1995. This new law will effect the registration of the following types of medical and paramedical professionals: physician, dentist, pharmacist, midwife, physical therapist, nurse, clinical psychologist, psychotherapist. How the new registration will work out in detail, is not yet clear.
PORTUGAL:
General definition of physician/doctor : A physician studies concepts, theories and methods, and refines, develops or applies knowledge in the field of preventative or therapeutic medicine in strictly medical or surgical or a combination of such specialist areas (National Classification of Occupations - 1994 version).
UNITED KINGDOM:
A doctor is a medically qualified person holding provisional, full or limited registration with the General Medical Council.  General practitioners and specialists are included. Are included in the statistics all doctors who provide services to patients in NHS hospitals, community, working full-time or part-time, or General Medical Service.  Some of these doctors may also work as administrators or may be involved in teaching or medical research.
AUSTRIA:
General definition of physician/doctor: Physicians - general practitioners and specialists - entitled to practise.
FINLAND:
General definition of physician/doctor: registered doctor (working age).
SWEDEN:
General definition of physician/doctor: all Medical Graduates in activity, with or without medical practice, privately or in public health, undergoing further training or not.  No other categories included, nor those in activity abroad.
ICELAND:
General definition of physician/doctor: Data generally published on the number of physicians covers active physicians (number of persons), working in the medical field in Iceland. The data is collected and assessed by the Directorate of Health.
NORWAY:
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SWITZERLAND:
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