How health professions are organized and practiced in Spain

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1. The law defines which are regulated health professions: those requiring specific university health training and organized in officially recognized professional associations. It divides them into two groups: graduate level (Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Veterinary) and diploma level (Nursing, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Podiatry, Optics and Optometry, Speech Therapy, and Human Nutrition and Dietetics).
2. To practice a health profession, self-employed or as an employee, you need the official degree that qualifies you for it. The law recognizes the right to freely practice these professions and lists the functions of each one, such as diagnosing and treating (physicians), dispensing medicines (pharmacists) or providing nursing care (nurses).
3. Patients have the right to choose their physician, to know the name, degree and specialty of the professionals treating them, and to receive information under the patient autonomy law. Public registers of professionals, accessible to the population, are created for this purpose.
4. Specialist training takes place through the residency system in accredited centers, with full-time dedication and a special employment relationship for the resident. Access is through a national annual call with exams and assessment of merits.
5. A professional development recognition system is created, with four grades that assess knowledge, experience, accredited continuing training and research. Obtaining the first grade requires five years of professional practice.
6. Quality controls also apply to private health care: health service contracts must be in writing, professionals must carry liability insurance, and advertising of their services must be truthful and cannot promise results without a scientific basis.

Who it affects

• Degree-holding health professionals (physicians, nurses, pharmacists and others): They must hold the official degree, complete continuing training, and can access professional development grades.
• Vocational training health professionals (nursing aides, diagnostic imaging technicians, etc.): The law recognizes their activity and health authorities regulate their integration into centers.
• Residents in health specialist training: A special residency employment relationship applies to them, and they must pass annual and final evaluations.
• Patients and health care users: They gain rights: choosing their physician, knowing who treats them, and receiving proper information.
• Private health centers and health insurance companies: They must keep professional registers, put contracts in writing, and guarantee quality and liability insurance.

Words worth knowing

Formación pregraduada

University studies completed before obtaining the degree, such as medical school.

Formación especializada

Official training after the degree that turns a graduate into a specialist, for example through hospital residency.

Formación continuada

Courses and updating activities that health professionals have both the right and the duty to complete throughout their working life.

Colegio profesional

Official organization grouping professionals of the same profession, such as the Physicians' Association (Colegio de Médicos).

Área de Capacitación Específica

Official diploma certifying extra training of a specialist within his or her specialty.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries