Changes in Europe Specialist Training for Occupational Medicine in
Norway– Status and Trends
Tor Erik Danielsen*
Specialist Training
What is going on in Norway?
There are 288 approved specialists in occupational
medicine in Norway. However, 50% of them are
retired or not active in the field.
The number of doctors in occupational health
services (OHS) in Norway has decreased from 500
in 2000 to 280 in 2012. These numbers have both
been converted to full- time positions. Now, 53 %
of the workforce is covered by OHS. This
coverage has been quite stable during recent years.
There is a quite strong trend in OHS from using
employed personnel to contract relationships with
external services, so OHS are commonly out-
sourced.
In the last five years, there has been an increased
capacity in the five regional hospital departments.
So, overall, current specialist candidates in
occupational medicine have increased.
Undergraduate Training
The curriculum in Occupational Medicine for
medical students involves 50-70 hours of teaching
in occupational medicine in two of the medical
schools in Norway (Trondheim and Bergen). The
two other schools in Oslo and Tromsø, as a
contrast, only have 4-10 hours of teaching in our
field.
The overall capacity in Norwegian Medical
Schools has more than doubled from 1990 to 2010
(310 to 650 candidates/ year).
The number of Norwegian students in foreign
medical schools has increased even more from 550
in 1994 to 2750 in 2010, and also to build
capacity, 16 % of doctors in Norway have foreign
origin (3650).
*
Head of Department, Oslo University Hospital, Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Member of the
National Board of Occ. Med., National Representative in UEMS Occ. Med.
E-mail Id: toedan@ous-hf.no
© ADR Journals 2014. All Rights Reserved.
Current Status for Specialist Training
The National Medical Association facilitates
specialist training in Norway. Currently, there are
44 recognised specialities in Norway.
Occupational medicine is regarded as one of the
three specialities under primary health. For each
specialty, there is a specialty committee who is
responsible for the content of the training and for
the accreditation of hospitals for graduate medical
education. The Norwegian Directorate of Health is
granting approvals for new specialists. The
Medical Societies work closely with the
institutions involved.
Postgraduate training in occupational medicine
obviously has specific requirements.
The requirements for residency are five full years
with at least one year as a company doctor (OHS)
and one year at a yearly approved educational
institution in occupational medicine restricted to
five hospitals and the National Institute. The
positions must be minimum 50% of full- time.
Up to one year may be replaced by research,
residency in the relevant specialties / disciplines,
work in health management, or in general practice.
Additionally, there is a supervision program over
two years and 120 hours (twenty meetings of six
hours). This program is based on a general
practice model to improve practical skills. This
program includes a supervised project paper.
Additionally, the specialist candidates must
complete formal courses in eleven specified
subjects over 300 hours.
The subjects are: law, leadership and management,
research methods, environmental medicine, work-
related muscular / skeletal problems, psychosocial
and organizational factors in the workplace,
psychosomatics, toxicology, lung diseases,
dermatology, and neurology.
Danielsen TK
Apart from this, the candidates need 55hours of
optional courses with a broad spectrum of
subjects.
After the candidates have completed the formal
program, there is no final exam.
The candidate forwards an application for
approval with some additional documentation of
skills, and attestation forms for specified
procedures and tasks. Currently, there is no system
for recertification for occupational medicine.
Current Activities in Norway
The Norwegian Board for Occupational Medicine
is working for academic positions at the medical
schools for the remaining hospital departments
and at the National Institute. The potential shifts of
2nd International Conference on Occupational & Environmental Health • 26 - 28 September 2014
32
tasks for doctors in OHS are also monitored. Also,
there is work going on for an introduction of
mentorship for young doctors in the field of
occupational medicine.
References
1. Graduate medical education. Available from:
http://legeforeningen.no/english/graduate-
medical-education/.
2. General statistics on doctors in Norway 2013.
Available from: http://legeforeningen.no/
Emner/Andre-emner/Legestatistikk/English/
General-statistics-on-doctors-in-Norway-
2013/.
3. Legestatistikk. Available from:http://legeforen
ingen.no/Emner/Andre-emner/Legestatistikk/.
(in Norwegian).