General Practitioner
The doctor people actually see: ten-minute consultations covering everything from a rash to a first cancer suspicion.
Save this career to see your personalized pathway in My Senda.
- Typical pay
- €40k–€70k
- Usual education
- Medicine degree + 4-year family medicine residency
- Outlook
- One of the largest specialties and the one with most vacancies.
A day in the life
Back-to-back appointments, chronic disease reviews, prescriptions, referrals, home visits and paperwork. You need breadth rather than depth, and the ability to spot the one serious case among forty routine ones.
Ways in
- Medicine degree
- MIR / national residency exam
- Four-year family and community medicine residency
- Public health service or private practice
What to study at 16
The subjects you choose for the final years of secondary school can shape which degrees, exams and careers are easiest to reach. This is about choosing courses, not choosing a school.
Spain
Bachillerato de Ciencias y Tecnología
Portugal
Ciências e Tecnologias
France
Bac général — spécialités
Germany
Oberstufe — Leistungskurse
Italy
Liceo scientifico
Netherlands
Profiel Natuur & Gezondheid
Exams you'll need
The gates between you and this job, and when each one comes.
MIR — Médico Interno Residente
You need MIR to specialise and practise in the Spanish public system.
RequiredTest di Medicina
Entry to the Italian medicine degree runs through this capped national test.
Skills that matter
Best courses to take
The study routes that lead most directly into this career.
Degree in Medicine
Six years, the highest entrance marks in the country, and the only route to becoming a doctor of any specialty.
Then a four-year family medicine residency.
Helpful school subjects: Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Pathology, Pharmacology, Clinical rotations
Places that hire for this
Charité — Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Hires across clinical teams, from placements to permanent posts.
Clínica Universidad de Navarra
Hires across clinical teams, from placements to permanent posts.
Comunidad de Madrid
Hires across clinical teams, from placements to permanent posts.
Elsan
Hires across clinical teams, from placements to permanent posts.
Erasmus MC
Hires across clinical teams, from placements to permanent posts.
Helios Health (Fresenius)
Hires across clinical teams, from placements to permanent posts.
Generalitat de Catalunya
Hires across clinical teams, from placements to permanent posts.
HM Hospitales
Hires across clinical teams, from placements to permanent posts.
Gruppo Ospedaliero Humanitas
Hires across clinical teams, from placements to permanent posts.
Junta de Andalucía
Hires across clinical teams, from placements to permanent posts.