Unspecialized physicians perform a wide variety of jobs, including most tasks related to hospital and health care work, from hospitalization to discharge. The work involves extensive communication with patients, relatives and other healthcare professionals, in addition to which doctors often carry out extensive scientific work and teaching at universities. Physician is a certified healthcare profession.

In a job as an unspecialized physician, you could work in a general ward or laboratory of a hospital, at a health center and/or in your own clinic. The work involves extensive collaboration with nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, social workers, other physicians and specialists.


Main tasks

• receiving patients and discussing issues concerning their health
• recording a patient’s medical history
• examining the patient and decide whether further research is needed
• providing medical care and prescribing medication if needed
• informing the patient and relatives about the progress of treatment, condition and prognosis
• research into the nature, causes and progression of diseases
• counseling and education

Competence requirements

Physicians’ close contact with patients, relatives and other healthcare professionals necessitates good interpersonal skills. It is also important to have ambition and patience, as well as good language skills. Physicians often specialize in areas such as medicine, surgery, family practice, pediatrics, anesthesia, gynecology, psychiatry, ophthalmology, oncology or radiology, as well as pathology and virology, and usually work exclusively in their field.

Study

The undergraduate course in medicine is a three-year university study program to a bachelor’s degree that does not confer a qualification. A general medical license and the right to practice medicine in Iceland is obtained after six years of study for an official examination and one additional year of internship. Organization of medical study program.

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