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What is the formal term for upper level healthcare workers?
By "upper level" I mean Medical Doctors and pharmacists; basically the ones that must have a university degree to perform the duties.
I'm aware of possible legal differences between various countries, fortunately I don't need a perfectly unambiguous term. The context allows for not being 100% accurate, journalistic accuracy would be enough, so to speak.
The term "provider" has come into some use in some discussions of health systems to describe workers who are qualified to direct the care of patients. This is perhaps not quite what you intend, in that the term would not generally be understood to include pharmacists acting to execute a plan of care formulated by another person.
In the context of regulations, I have seen the term "licensed provider" used in a way that I think overlaps closely the group you describe, with the obvious difference being that the credential of concern is a license rather than a university degree. For linkage, in this vocabulary, "licensed independent provider" would correspond to the sense of "provider" in the previous paragraph.
Finally, I think that informally the term "clinician" falls close to what you describe, but as it places the focus on care delivered rather than training, precisely whom it comprises is the subject of sometimes heated discussion.
Weighing in as a physician . . .
It depends upon what that person does for a living:
Healthcare Provider means anyone from a medical assistant up to physician can be providing care. It is a more neutral term that encompasses anyone who provides direct care to patients regardless of their education and status.
Healthcare Professional tends to mean someone of advanced degree who provides health care. This typically implies that the person is a: Physician, Psychologist, Physician Assistant, Nurse Practitioner, Certified Nurse Anesthetist, Physical Therapist, etc.
Otherwise, the terms physician, pharmacist, etc. are the appropriate terms for people within those fields as opposed to doctor, druggist, etc.
