Table 1

Characteristics of the physicians (n=526) participating in the study

Characteristic		Number	Percentage
Sex	Male	135	25.7
Sex	Female	391	74.3
Age in years	25–39	256	48.6
	40–64	221	42.0
	65–84	49	9.3
Native language	Estonian	457	86.9
	Russian	66	12.5
	Other	3	0.6
Working experience as a physician	<5 years	166	31.6
	6–10 years	86	16.3
	11–20 years	78	14.8
	>21 years	196	37.3
Specialty	No specialty	161	30.6
Specialty	Specialist doctor	365	69.4
Working setting	Hospital	399	75.8
	Primary healthcare	75	14.3
	Private clinic	33	6.3
	Other	19	3.6
Workload	Full time	303	57.6
	Part time	75	14.3
	Double load	139	26.4
	Not working	9	1.7
Being religious	Certainly	52	9.9
	To some extent	156	29.7
	Not at all	295	56.2
	Do not know	22	4.2
General health	Very good	149	28.3
	Good	318	60.5
	Neither good nor bad	48	9.1
	Poor	10	1.9
	Very poor	1	0.2
Participated in palliative care courses	No	347	66.0
	In some courses	154	29.3
	In several courses	25	4.7
Managing palliative care patients	Daily	84	16.0
	Several patients per month	162	30.8
	Some patients per year	158	30.0
	Hardly at all	122	23.2
Managing end-of-life care patients	Daily	56	10.6
	Several patients per month	160	30.4
	Some patients per year	161	30.6
	Hardly at all	149	28.4
Managing patients whose suffering is not relieved despite care	Daily	37	7.0
	Several patients per month	113	21.5
	Several patients per year	177	33.7
	Hardly at all	199	37.8
Has a patient asked you for euthanasia or physician-assisted death?	Yes	192	36.5
	No	296	56.3
	Do not remember	38	7.2