Medical specialists supply in Uruguay in 2020

A study that focuses on nephrologists

Abstract

Objective: to estimate nephrologists´ supply in Uruguay in 2020.
Method: an analysis of information sources of public access was performed to estimate medical specialists supply in Uruguay, as well as its completeness, reliability and limitations.
Results: in 2020, 178 physicians were identified as active nephrology professionals in Uruguay. This area of specialization may be represented as a feminized pyramid, 70% of nephrologists are women and over 50% of them are over 49 years old. If you further restrict these specialists’ universe to those who are 65 years old or younger, we find there are 173 medical specialists in Uruguay. Beyond limitations in the method, this is the most accurate survey in terms of the number of nephrologists in the country and the demographic structure of this medical specialization.
Conclusions: the study provides an estimation on the human resources supply in nephrology. The ability to conduct this kind of study constitutes a significant progress in Uruguay. Information and information systems are seen as a key input to manage health issues and make decisions in the field of healthcare. As a matter of fact, optimization in the use of data and information available at any time, as well as identifying required data that are not available in order to promote its collection in future innovations of data recording systems is highly relevant.