Number of pathologists in Germany: comparison with European countries, USA, and Canada
Open accessAbstract
The rapid development of pathology is in contrast to a shortage of qualified staff. The aims of the present study are to compile basic information on the numbers of German physicians in pathology and to compare it with the situation in Europe and overseas. In addition, model calculations will shed light on the effects of part-time working models. Various publicly accessible databases (EuroStat) as well as publications of medical associations and professional associations of European countries and the USA/Canada were examined. In addition, a survey was carried out among the institutes of German universities. Figures from 24 European countries and the USA/Canada were evaluated. With one pathologist per 47,989 inhabitants, the density of pathologists in Germany in relation to the population is the second-lowest in Europe (average: 32,018). Moreover, the proportion of pathologists among the physicians working in Germany is the lowest in Europe and at the same time lower than in the USA and Canada (Germany: 1:200, USA: 1:70, Canada: 1:49). The ratio of pathologists to medical specialists is shifted in the same direction. The survey among university pathologists revealed a relevant increase in the workload over the last 10 years. The majority of institutes can manage this workload only with considerable difficulties. With a ratio between specialists and residents of 1:1, the university institutes show a high commitment in the area of training. The results of this study indicate a shortage of pathologists in Germany that could lead to a bottleneck in large parts of the health system.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Generating pathology reports is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and non-standardized, resulting in delays and inefficiencies.
“However, generating these reports is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and non-standardized3—resulting in delays and inefficiencies4.”
From Generating dermatopathology reports from gigapixel whole slide images with HistoGPT (2025) · cites this paper as [4]
The Results and Discussion describe increasing workloads and staffing shortages in pathology, but do not address the time, labor, or standardization involved in generating pathology reports. Searches for report writing and standardized documentation found no passage on those points. The separate claim about delays and inefficiencies is attached to citation 4, not this source. (LLM, conf=0.73)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
A nursing shortage – a prospect of global and local policies
Marć, M., Bartosiewicz, A., Burzyńska, J., Chmiel, Z., & Januszewicz, P. (2018) · International Nursing Review · doi:10.1111/inr.12473 · Cited by 435 · see citing works
Robboy, S. J., Weintraub, S., Horvath, A. E., Jensen, B. W., Alexander, C. B., Fody, E. P., Crawford, J. M., Clark, J. R., Cantor-Weinberg, J., Joshi, M., et al. (2013) · Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine · doi:10.5858/arpa.2013-0200-oa · Cited by 219 · see citing works
Radiologist shortage leaves patient care at risk, warns royal college
Rimmer, A. (2017) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.j4683 · Cited by 193 · see citing works
Shortage of general practitioners in the NHS
Majeed, A. (2017) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.j3191 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Fritzsche, F. R., Ramach, C., Soldini, D., Caduff, R. F., Tinguely, M., Cassoly, E., Moch, H., & Stewart, A. (2012) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/1471-2458-12-1054 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Ärztemangel: Was tun, bevor Generation Y ausbleibt? Ergebnisse einer bundesweiten Befragung
Kasch, R., Engelhardt, M., Förch, M., et al. (2015) · Zentralblatt für Chirurgie - Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Viszeral- Thorax- und Gefäßchirurgie · doi:10.1055/s-0035-1557857 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Karagiannidis, C., Kluge, S., Rießen, R., et al. (2018) · Medizinische Klinik - Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin · doi:10.1007/s00063-018-0457-3 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Kleinert, R., Fuchs, C., Romotzky, V., et al. (2017) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0188114 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Gedrose, B., Wonneberger, C., Jünger, J., et al. (2012) · DMW - Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift · doi:10.1055/s-0032-1304872 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Warth, A., Stenzinger, A., Andrulis, M., et al. (2015) · Archiv für Pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und für Klinische Medicin · doi:10.1007/s00428-015-1869-6 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Fachkräftemangel in Deutschland
Schmidt, K., Meyer, J. E., Liebeneiner, J., et al. (2012) · HNO · doi:10.1007/s00106-011-2406-9 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Arbeitszeitvorstellungen von Ärztinnen und Ärzten in Weiterbildung
Ziegler, S., Krause-Solberg, L., Scherer, M., et al. (2017) · Bundesgesundheitsblatt - Gesundheitsforschung - Gesundheitsschutz · doi:10.1007/s00103-017-2610-1 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Predicted shortage of vascular surgeons in the United Kingdom: A matter for debate?
Harkin, D. W., Beard, J. D., Shearman, C. P., et al. (2015) · The Surgeon · doi:10.1016/j.surge.2015.10.004 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Ärztemangel am Beispiel der Anästhesie und Intensivmedizin - Ursachen, Folgen und Lösungsansätze
Papenfuß, T., & Roch, C. (2012) · AINS - Anästhesiologie · Intensivmedizin · Notfallmedizin · Schmerztherapie · doi:10.1055/s-0032-1313574 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Blank, J. L. T., & van Hulst, B. L. (2017) · Human Resources for Health · doi:10.1186/s12960-017-0184-5 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
[Shortage of doctors in Switzerland: myth or reality?].
Bernheim, L., & Balavoine, J.-F. (2016) · PubMed · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Risques professionnels chez les pathologistes : résultats d’une enquête française
Dervaux, A., Vaysse, B., Doutrellot-Philippon, C., Couvreur, V., Guilain, N., & Chatelain, D. (2020) · Annales de Pathologie · doi:10.1016/j.annpat.2019.11.005 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Gute Ärzte braucht das Land – eine erfolgreiche Strategie wider den drohenden Landärztemangel
Blank, W. A. (2019) · Das Gesundheitswesen · doi:10.1055/a-1026-0498 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Goebell, P. J., Salem, J., Strunk, J., et al. (2016) · Der Urologe · doi:10.1007/s00120-016-0184-4 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
RCP warns over shortage of stroke physicians
Gulland, A. (2016) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.i6398 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Cardiologist shortage prompts NHS trust to ask GPs to cut referrals
Torjesen, I. (2016) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.i1304 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Generation Y und die Qualität in der Inneren Medizin – gibt es Lösungen für ein großes Dilemma?
Alscher, M. D. (2015) · DMW - Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift · doi:10.1055/s-0041-103786 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Shortage of emergency department doctors needs urgent action, says watchdog
Limb, M. K. (2013) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.f6595 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Paediatrician shortage is putting child services at risk, warns college
O’Dowd, A. (2016) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.i1348 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Sandbank, J., Bataillon, G., Nudelman, A., Krasnitsky, I., Mikulinsky, R., Bien, L., Thibault, L., Albrecht Shach, A., Sebag, G., Clark, D. P., et al. (2022) · npj Breast Cancer · doi:10.1038/s41523-022-00496-w · Cited by 112 · see citing works
The current troubled state of the global pathology workforce: A concise review
Walsh, E., & Orsi, N. M. (2024) · Diagnostic Pathology · doi:10.1186/s13000-024-01590-2 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Kriegsmann, K., Lobers, F., Zgorzelski, C., Kriegsmann, J., Janßen, C., Meliß, R. R., Muley, T., Sack, U., Steinbuss, G., & Kriegsmann, M. (2022) · Frontiers in Oncology · doi:10.3389/fonc.2022.1022967 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Generating dermatopathology reports from gigapixel whole slide images with HistoGPT
Tran, M., Schmidle, P., Guo, R. R., Wagner, S. J., Koch, V., Lupperger, V., Novotny, B., Murphree, D. H., Hardway, H. D., D’Amato, M., et al. (2025) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-025-60014-x · Cited by 36 · see citing works
“However, generating these reports is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and non-standardized 3 — resulting in delays and inef fi ciencies 4 .”
- Authors
- Märkl, B., Füzesi, L., Huss, R., Bauer, S., & Schaller, T.
- Affiliations
- University of Augsburg (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Märkl, Bruno
- Venue
- Virchows Archiv
- Published
- 2020-07-27
- Volume
- 478
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 335-341
- ISSN
- 0945-6317 (ISSN-L)
- 1432-2307
- PMC
- PMC7969551
- OpenAlex
- W3045714119
- Cited by
- 115
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 11.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Archiv für Pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und für Klinische Medicin (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Informationszentrum Lebenswissenschaften (ZB MED) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- OPUS (Augsburg University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Universität Augsburg
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Emergency Medical Services › Global Health Workforce Issues
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Diversity and Career in Medicine
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare Systems and Challenges
- Keywords
- pathologist shortage, physician workforce, workload, medical specialization, Germany, Europe, Canada
- MeSH terms
- Pathologists, Canada, Career Choice, Education, Medical, Graduate, Germany, Health Workforce, Health Services Needs and Demand, Humans, Pathology, Surveys and Questionnaires, Specialization, United States, Needs Assessment
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
