Specialised doctor
Also called specialized doctor, specialized medical doctor, specialised medical doctor
Specialised doctors prevent, diagnose and treat diseases depending on their medical or surgical specialty.
What you'd do
Specialist medical practitioners · ILO- Conducting physical examinations of patients and interviewing them and their families to determine their health status
- Considering medical information provided by a referring doctor or other health care provider
- Ordering specialized diagnostic tests to determine the nature of disorders or illnesses
- Prescribing, administering and monitoring patients' responses to treatments, medications, anaesthetics, psychotherapies, physical rehabilitation programmes and other preventive and curative measures
- Performing surgery of a general or specialized nature
- Managing complications before, during and after childbirth
- Recording patients' medical information and exchanging information with other health professionals to ensure the provision of comprehensive care
- Reporting births, deaths and notifiable diseases to government authorities to meet legal and professional requirements
- Providing information to patients and families and communities about preventive measures, treatment and care for specific ailments
- Performing autopsies to determine cause of death
- Conducting research into specific human disorders and illnesses and preventive or curative methods and disseminating the findings such as through scientific reports
- Planning and participating in programmes designed to prevent the occurrence and spread of specific diseases
- Indoors
- A mix of sitting and standing
- Constant contact with people, including the public
- Good freedom to decide
- Often more than 40 hours a week
- Deadlines every day
- Some repetitive tasks
Will there be jobs?
Yes, good prospects21 EU countries are short of specialist medical practitioners now, and many jobs will need filling by 2035.
Solid: measured. Dashed: forecast.
What does it pay?
Well above averagePay depends a lot on the country: from about €1,800 a month (Bulgaria) to €9,700 (Luxembourg), before tax.
Pick a country at the top of the page to see typical pay there, for people under 30, and compared with all jobs.
Among professionals in the EU, women earn 21% less per hour than men. Professionals · Eurostat
What do I need to study?
Usually a degreeA degree in medicine is the usual route.
946 institutions in the EU offer health and welfare bachelor's degrees. Pick a country at the top of the page to see where to study and the official course finders.
Will AI change it?
Very littleAI could help with only small parts of the tasks.
Average task score 0.27 on a scale from 0 (AI can't do it) to 1 (AI could do it fully).
See the score for each of the 12 tasks
Based on what AI could technically do when assessed in 2025. It is not a forecast for a future year, and not a forecast of job losses. Scores for specialist medical practitioners. Source: ILO (2025), adapted (credits).