Medical specialists directory

The purpose of the medical specialists directory

www.healthdirectory.com.au/Medical_specialists/ is a communications platform for medical specialists. The directory has been established to assist both consumers and referring professionals to find medical specialists with specific interest, qualifications and expertise in selected areas.

General practitioners and other referring professionals are busy people and it is unreasonable to expect them to be fully informed about the range of expertise of individual medical specialists. While they know some of the specialists in their geographical area, they tend to use on and offline directories to find suitable specialist to refer their patients to.

Patients are taking an increasingly more proactive role in finding a medical specialist, assisting their GPs with the management of their health issues. They are searching the Internet to inform themselves about health matters, treatment options and health service providers. We therefore encourage medical specialists to communicate to both patients and referring professionals on their pages.

The directory also aims to save time and traveling costs for patients. Patients and their referring professional can use healthdirectory.com.au to find medical specialists within a desired radius around their postcode.

Medical specialist? Click here to disseminate information about your practice (free Listing+Page).

Medical specialists in Australia

To become a medical specialist in Australia, doctors complete a program of supervised training and are awarded a Fellowship by a specialist medical college, accredited by the Australian Medical Council.

There is a wide range of medical specialist disciplines that are recognised in Australia, including anaesthetics, dermatology, intensive care, emergency medicine, general practice, obstetrics and gynaecology, occupational medicine, ophthalmology, paediatrics, pathology, radiology, radiation oncology, surgery, psychiatry, public health medicine and rehabilitation medicine. Medical specialists often undertake additional training in a sub-specialty.

In 2004 there were 65,499 registered medical practitioners in Australia, 35.3% of whom were specialists and 12.4% specialists-in-training.

Between 2000 and 2004 there was a 19.0% increase in specialists practicing in Australia, from 16,008 to 19,043. This equates to an increase of 11 specialists per 100,000 population, from 84 to 95. (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2006. Medical labour force 2004. National health labour force series no. 38. Cat. no. HWL 39. Canberra: AIHW.)

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