Abstract
Specialists for internal medicine are very important group of the medical profession. Although they make up the largest group of specialized physicians, there is a shortage of physicians, and in particular of internists in Germany, Austria and under some aspects in Switzerland. Germany, Austria and Switzerland show also an intensive transfer of physicians. It is therefore of interest to investigate if the tern “internist” in the three countries under consideration is based on the same or equivalent education, in particular regarding the quality standards. Exchange date between the three countries, the organisation of the medical profession, the access requirements to the specialist medical training, the structure of the specialist’s training as well as the requirements for keeping the specialist’s name have been compared. The main differences are the access requirements and the linkage of the qualification to the independent exercise of the medical profession. Also regarding the performance catalogues, the Swiss education follows a different approach as in Germany and Austria.
Highlights
Specialists in internal medicine are deeply rooted in the healthcare system
Physician’s Exchange between Germany, Austria and Switzerland In Germany, the number of working physicians has risen by 21.1% from 306,400 (BÄK, 2005) to 371,302 (BÄK, 2016a) between 2005 and 2015
In Switzerland, the training title “general practicioner” or a specialist title are necessary for independently practising the medical profession (MedBG, 2006; SIWF FMH ISFM, 2002b)
Summary
The importance of specialists in internal medicine is exhibited by the sheer size of this specialist group compared to any other group in the entire medical profession. In 2015, the specialists for internal medicine in Germany comprised. In Switzerland, the statistical evaluation for 2015 shows a total of 35,325 physicians, with 8328 specialists for General Internal Medicine (Hostettler & Kraft, 2016), followed by the specialists for psychiatry and psychotherapy. The same applies to Austria, in 2015, the internists made up the largest specialist medical group with 4204 members. The total number of physicians the same year was 44,002 (Statistik Austria, 2016a). The physicians specialized in internal medicine represent the largest group with a specialisation in Germany, Switzerland and Austria
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