Health care personnel

Actual full-time equivalent employment – actual hours worked by full-time equivalents. In fact, the number of filled positions is found by dividing the actual hours worked by full-time working hours in November (e.g 168 hours in November 2013).

Assistant dentist (student) – a student who is studying this specialty.

Assistant midwife (student) – a student who is studying this specialty.

Assistant nurses – in the case of record of persons with professional education, the number of associate professionals with specialised medical education employed by the institution, whose specialty is not listed in the table. In the case of record of persons by occupation, all persons employed in the occupation of associate professionals, whose occupation is not listed in the table. In the case of record of full-time equivalent employment, all full-time equivalent employment of the institution by associate professionals whose occupation is not listed in the table.

Assistant nurse (student) – a student who is studying this specialty.

Assistant radiology technician (student) – a student who is studying this specialty.

County – location of health care service provider. It is classified according to the Classification of Administrative and Settlement Units of Estonia (EHAK) (see classifications and lists).

Full-time equivalent employment (FTE) – one FTE is equivalent to one employee working full-time equals normally to 40 hours per week.

Full-time equivalent employment by contract load – the employer and the employee agreed working hours of full-time work.

Group of occupation – forming by similar occupations. A specific set of tasks and responsibilities in the organization or institution for specific job.

Group of profession – forming by similar professions.

Health care personnel – employees who are directly related to provision of health care services (physicians, dentists, nurses and midwives and other health care specialists).

Health care provider or health care facility – a legal person whose principal or ancillary activity is to provide health care services. Health care providers must have an activity licence issued by the Health Board (Health Care Board until 1 January 2010).

Management – physician managers, nursing managers and other administrative managers in the medical field.

Occupation – set of jobs whose main tasks and duties are characterised by a high degree of similarity. This review of occupations is based on the classification of occupations of the health care system (see Classifications and lists).

Other health care personnel – includes clinical laboratory assistants, medical statisticians, caring nurses, emergency care technicians, dental technicians, dental assistants, radiology technician, optometrists, assistant nurses and other health care personnel with higher medical education (see the definition of Other health care personnel with higher education).

Other health care personnel with higher education – in the case of record of persons with professional education, the number of all persons with specialised medical education, employed in a medical occupation, whose speciality is not listed in the table. In the case of record of persons by occupation, the number of specialists with tertiary-level specialised medical education, employed in non-medical occupations, whose occupation is not listed in the table. An exception is made in the case of the management of the institution, where the number of all persons belonging to the management is recorded. In the case of record of full-time equivalent employment, the total number of full-time equivalent employment of the institution by specialists with tertiary-level specialised medical training, employed in non-medical occupations, whose occupation is not listed in the table (an exception is made in the case of the management of the institution, where the number of full-time equivalent employment for all persons belonging to the management is recorded).

Other nurses – in the case of record of persons with professional education, the number of all nursing personnel with specialised medical education, employed in a medical occupation, whose speciality is not listed in the table. In the case of record of persons by occupation, all persons employed in the occupation of other nursing personnel, whose speciality is not listed in the table. In the case of record of full-time equivalent employment, all other full-time equivalent nursing personnel in occupations, which are not listed in the table.

Other personnel – non-health care specialists of health care institutions. This includes, for instance, accountants, customer service attendants, statisticians, etc., i.e., employees who do not have specialised medical training and are not employed in medical positions.

Overtime hours – over the normal working hours worked hours.

Profession – particular skills and deep knowledge what is needed to work by a specific occupations.

Resident dentist – a dentist who learned a certain speciality during residency.

Speciality – knowledge and skills acquired by an educational institution, latest qualifications or speciality. Classification of medical specialities in the health care system is based on the List of Specialities of Physicians and the List of Nursing Specialities (see Classifications and lists).

Resident physician – a physician who is studying a certain speciality in residency.

Type of hospital – seven types of hospitals are distinguished on the basis of provided health care services: regional hospital, central hospital, general hospital, local hospital, special hospital, rehabilitation hospital and nursing care hospital. The local hospital type was added in 2003 (see Classifications and lists).

Type of owner – shows the ownership of an establishment either by the public sector (the capital share of the state and/or local government is 50% or more) or the private sector (the capital share of an Estonian private body and/or foreign private body is 50% or more) (see Classifications and lists).

Type of provider of health care services – health care providers are divided into the following types: hospitals, family doctor's offices, specialist health care providers, dental care providers, emergency medical care providers, rehabilitation care providers, diagnostics providers, nursing care providers and other providers (see Classifications and lists).

The purpose of collecting statistical data on health care professionals is to provide an overview of the health care professionals and of the full-time equivalent employment in the Estonian health care system.

The data are collected from institutions that have been issued activity licences for the provision of health care services and from all family physicians with a practice list, pursuant to the Health Care Services Organisation Act and decree by the Minister of Social Affairs.

Data are currently collected for every November and presented to NIHD by 1st of February the following year.

Calculating the rate of health care personnel per 100 000 inhabitants, the population number of 1st of January is used.

From 2012 the data on full-time equivalent and on persons working of assistant physicians (students), assistant nurses (students), assistant midwives (students) and assistant radiology technicians (students) is included.

Since 2013 the data collection methology has been changed. Thinking about the needs of data users more detailed form was created named „Health care workers“. The aggregated data collection were replaced with the data collection of personal basis. Hence, differences occure in data until 2012 and starting from 2013.

Since 2013

Since 2013 the data are collected for every November and presented to NIHD by 1st of February the following year.

Since 2013 non-medical personnel data are not collected.

Since 2013 the number of employed personnel shows all persons employed in the specified occupation. If a person works in a variety of profession, he/she is recognized for all occupations where he/she works. The total number of health care personnel shows the sum of health workers (counting all persons). By taking into consider the different types of health care providers and occupations, must be remembered that health care personnel can work in different types of health care providers and on different occupations, so data will show all the occupations and providers where persons worked.

Besides the usual report, the blood service establishments submit data about their personnel in the “Blood Establishment” report.

Additional data is included from the State Agency of Medicines on pharmacists and chemists employed by dispensing chemists.

Period 1998-2012

Data are collected for 31st of December at the end of the report year and presented to NIHD by 1st of March the following year.

Three indicators are used in the publication of statistics on health care personnel: number of health care personnel by education-based speciality; number of health care personnel by occupation; and number of full-time equivalent employment.

Until 2012 data on persons with professional education were collected with the “Health Personnel” report format. The collected data were based on the most recent specialised medical education of the person. All health care providers were required to submit the “Health Personnel” reports. This database did not include specialists without a professional education certificate and specialists with specialised medical education who were not employed in a medical occupation.

The data on full-time equivalent and on persons working in medical occupations were collected with the “Health Care Institution” report, which should have been submitted by all legal institutions that provided health care services, except for independent emergency medical care providers, blood service and dental care providers, which submitted their data in other reports. The dental care providers submitted the data on their personnel and full-time equivalent employment with the “Dentist’s Reports”, while the blood service establishments used the “Blood Establishment” report.

The number of full-time equivalent employment in 2012 shows all employed personnel filled positions. Employed personnel by group of occupation in the year of 2012 shows the specialists by their main branch of occupation. From 2012 the data on full-time equivalent and on persons working of assistant physicians (students), assistant nurses (students), assistant midwives (students) and assistant radiology technicians (students) is included.

Besides the usual report, providers of emergency medical care services need to submit the data on health care professionals and full-time equivalent employment with the report “Emergency Medical Care Work” to the Emergency Medical Care Office of the Health Board, which forwarded the aggregate data to the Health Statistics Department of the National Institute for Health Development. The collected data reflected the situation as of the fourth quarter of the accounting year and submitted to the NIHD by April of the following year.

Additional data is included from the State Agency of Medicines on pharmacists and chemists employed by dispensing chemists; additional data on pathologists from the Estonian Forensic Science Institute, and data on physicians and nurses employed by nursing homes from the Ministry of Social Affairs.

Classification of Administrative and Settlement Units of Estonia (EHAK)

This classification is used upon submission of regional statistics. Regional health care statistics are submitted by 15 counties. Information about Tallinn and Tartu is submitted separately. This classification system is available on the webpage of the Statistics Estonia in the Classifications section.

List of hospitals

On the basis of the services they provide hospitals are divided into seven types: regional hospitals, central hospitals, general hospitals, local hospitals, special hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals and nursing care hospitals. Requirements for different hospital types are laid down in Decree No. 103 Requirements for Hospital Types, issued by the Minister of Social Affairs on 19 August 2004.

Type of owner

Type of owner serves as the basis for the list of health care service providers according to whether they belong to state or private sector. This classification system is available on the webpage of the Statistics Estonia in the classifications section.

Classification of occupations

The classification is used for grouping the occupations of the health care system (based on ISCO-08 classification). The classification is available on the Statistics Estonia in the classifications section (in Estonian).

List of specialities of physicians

List of Specialities of Physicians (in Estonian) decree, issued by the Minister of Social Affairs on 28 November 2001, serves as the basis for the classification of doctor’s and dentist’s specialities.

List of nursing specialities

List of Nursing Specialities (in Estonian) decree, issued by the Minister of Social Affairs on 11 June 2001, serves as the basis for the classification of nursing specialities.

List of health care service provider

On the basis of the type of provided health care service the health care service providers are divided in the following way:

• Hospital – a health care provider which complies with the requirements related to location, construction, administrative organisation and staff, aimed at providing in-patient medical care in medical specialties. As a rule, in addition to in-patient health care service, hospitals also provide outpatient and day care services.
• Family doctor’s office – a health care provider in which outpatient health care services are provided by a medical practitioner specialised as a family doctor operating based on his/her practice list.
• Specialist health care provider – a health care provider in which outpatient health care services are provided by a medical specialist and health care professionals working with him/her. These include the facilities providing occupational health services.
• Dental care provider – a health care provider in which outpatient health care services are provided by a dentist and health care professionals working with him/her.
• Emergency medical care provider – outpatient health care provider for the initial diagnosis and treatment of a life-threatening disease, injury or poisoning and, if necessary, for the transport of the person in need of assistance to a hospital. Emergency medical care providers only encompass independent emergency medical care providers.
• Rehabilitation care provider – a health care provider which provides outpatient health care services with the aim of improving people’s condition of health and in case of which the health-related limits to everyday life either arise from an injury or the chronic nature of the disease.
• Diagnostics provider – a provider of outpatient health services for the assessment of the patient’s state of health with the help of laboratory tests and diagnostic examinations.
• Nursing care provider – a health care provider in which independent outpatient or in-patient health care services are provided only by nurses and/or midwives.
• Other provider – this group includes providers which have not been mentioned above, but which hold an activity licence enabling them to provide health care services, e.g., Estonian Defence Forces, facilities providing school health care service, prison outpatient medical departments and also the providers which deal with the organisation of first aid courses, hold telephone medical consultations and provide support staff for family physicians.

The health care service providers mentioned above are classified in descending order of rank, i.e., if one facility provides several health care services, it is classified as an facility providing a relevant service mentioned afore in the list.

Tomson K. Health Care Personnel in Estonia 2017. Tallinn: National Institute for Health Development; 2019. Analysis is available here in pdf-format

National Institute for Health Development of Estonia, The National Health Service of Latvia, Health Information Centre, Institute of Hygiene, Lithuania. Health in the Baltic Countries 2016. Tallinn: National Institute for Health Development; 2018. Report is available here in pdf-format

National Institute for Health Development of Estonia, The National Health Service of Latvia, Health Information Centre, Institute of Hygiene, Lithuania. Health in the Baltic Countries 2015. Tallinn: National Institute for Health Development; 2017. Report is available here in pdf-format

Anderson E. Independent outpatient visits of nurses 2005–2015. Tallinn: National Institute for Health Development; 2017. Analysis is available here in pdf-format

Kivisild G. Health care personnel in Estonia 2013. Tallinn: National Institute for Health Development; 2014. Analysis is available here in pdf-format

Tiiu-Liisa Rummo

Department of Health Statistics

National Institute for Health Development

E-mail: tiiu-liisa.rummo[at]tai.ee

Updated: 06.06.2023