Report from the University of Oslo

Abstract

In the 1960s, general practice was struggling to survive as a clinical entity in Norway, just as in most of Europe. Recruitment was down to zero; there was a focus on hospital medicine and little academic activity linked to primary care. Something had to be done. It was actually the Norwegian Medical Association (NMA) that first saw the importance of upgrading general practice as an academic discipline and introducing it into the basic training of medical students. The NMA generously donated money for a professorship and a department of general practice at the University of Oslo in 1968, making it the oldest GP department in the Nordic countries and the third oldest in Europe, beaten only by Scotland and Yugoslavia. In the ensuing 30 years, academic general practice has grown to become a major contributor to the activities of the medical faculty in Oslo. With the new curriculum changes that took place in 1996 it is now one of the three main clinical subjects taught at the medical school, along with internal medicine and surgery. The department has been active in research and science, in addition, producing more than 15 doctoral candidates and several hundred scientific articles in well-renowned peer-reviewed international journals. Hard times have besieged general practice again; recruitment to practice and the academy is down to critical levels, as are our scientific activities, due to structural changes in the Norwegian health care system and to further financial restraints at the university and the NMA. Our overall scientific staff has been reduced from six to three positions during the last two years. The staff now spend between 40% and 45% of their total working-time on teaching related activities. The major challenge ahead of us will be to maintain the quality in teaching and research and to rebuild our strength as a major academic clinical department by restructuring and finding new ‘‘financial partners’’. An uphill struggle? Yes, but we believe we can do it!