General Practice was established as a medical specialty in Greece in 1986. To qualify as a General Practitioner (γενικός ιατρός, genikos iatros) doctors in Greece are required to complete four years of vocational training after medical school, including three years and two months in a hospital setting. General Practitioners in Greece may either work as private specialists or for the National Healthcare Service, ESY (Εθνικό Σύστημα Υγείας, ΕΣΥ). General practice in the Netherlands and Belgium is considered advanced. The "huisarts" (literally: "home doctor") administers first line, primary care. In the Netherlands, patients usually cannot consult a hospital specialist without a required referral. Most GPs work in private practice although more medical centers with employed GPs are seen. Many GPs have a specialist interest, e.g. in palliative care. In Belgium, one year of lectures and two years of residency are required. In the Netherlands, training consists of three years (full-time) of specialization after completion of internships of 3 years. First and third year of training takes place at a GP practice. The second year of training consists of six months training at an emergency room, or internal medicine, paediatrics or gynaecology, or a combination of a general or academic hospital, three months of training at a psychiatric hospital or outpatient clinic and three months at a nursing home (verpleeghuis) or clinical geriatrics ward/policlinic. During all three years, residents get one day of training at university while working in practice the other days. The first year, a lot of emphasis is placed on communications skills with video training. Furthermore, all aspects of working as a GP gets addressed including working with the medical standards from the Dutch GP association NHG (Nederlands Huisartsen Genootschap). All residents must also take the national GP knowledge test (Landelijke Huisartsgeneeskundige Kennistoets (LHK-toets)) twice a year. In this test of 120 multiple choice questions, medical, ethical, scientific and legal matters of GP work are addressed. In the Soviet Union specialty "general practitioner" did not exist, similar functions were performed by the Therapist (). In the Russian Federation, the General Practitioner's Regulation was put into effect in 1992, after which medical schools started training in the relevant specialty.