Iceland
Population (2017): 338,349
Income per Capita (2018): 49,910.01 US
Percentage of GDP on Healthcare (2015): 8.61%
training
Year family medicine established: 1990 (Kringos et al., n.d.)
Type of Training: unknown
Length of Training: unknown
Number of institutions that offer family medicine: Medical School of Iceland, Reykjavik (Brekke et al., 2013)
Number of family medicine residents graduating each year (2015): 40 family medicine residents (Kringos et al., n.d.)
practice
Number of family doctors in country (2016): 213 family physicians (Eurostat, 2016)
Physician to population ratio: unknown.
DALY: 9,803 per 100,000 individuals (Due to all Causes).
Life Expectancy:
Females 2017: 84.1 years
Males 2017: 80.4 years
Mortality rate 2017:
2016 Males: 66 per 1,000 male adults.
2016 Females: 38 per 1,000 female adults.
Infant Immunization-HepB3: % of 1-year-old children received: N/A
College of Family Physicians (Y or N):
Yes: The Icelandic College of Family Physicians.
Healthcare System
Primary care health centers are funded by the Ministry of Health (Kringos et al., n.d.). “The Icelandic Medical Association speaks for all of the medical specialties. They appear to have had a stronger voice and has been the prime mover in developing a primary care system that does not have a “gatekeeping” function, where people may refer themselves directly to specialists.” (Kringos et al., n.d.)
“Most GPs (about 185 in total) are salaried, employed on a contract by the Ministry of Health. Around 30 other GPs work on a combination of private fees and fee-for-service paid by the state. GPs may choose to have a fixed salary or 80% fixed salary and additional fee-for-service payments.” (Kringos et al., n.d.)
training
Family medicine was established in Iceland in 1990 (Kringos et al., n.d.). The country has only one university and it has a medical undergraduate course at the Medical School of Iceland (Brekke et al., 2013). As of 2015, 40 family medicine residents graduated each year in Iceland (Kringos et al., n.d.)
practice
In Iceland there are 213 family physician (Eurostat, 2016). GPs usually use referral letters when they refer a patient to a medical specialist. However, referral by GPs is only one of the common patient routes to specialist practice since there is no “gatekeeping” function in primary care in Iceland (Kringos et al., n.d.)
References
Brekke, M., Carelli, F., Zarbailov, N., Javashvili, G., Wilm, S., Timonen, M., & Tandeter, H. 2013. “Undergraduate Medical Education in General Practice/Family Medicine throughout Europe-a Descriptive Study.” http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6920/13/157.
Kringos, D.S., Wienke G.. Boerma, W., Hutchinson, A., Saltman, R.D., & Saltman, R.B. n.d. “Building Primary Care in a Changing Europe Edited Building Primary Care in a Changing Europe Observatory Studies Series 38.” Accessed December 2, 2018. http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/271170/BuildingPrimaryCareChangingEurope.pdf.
“Physicians, by Speciality.” 2016. Eurostat. Accessed on December 1, 2018. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statisticsexplained/index.php?title=File:Physicians,_by_speciality,_2016_HLTH18.png.