Physicians’ workplace and newly graduated physicians affiliation with working life

Appropriate staffing in the health service is a prerequisite for a well-functioning health service in Norway.

Population projections show that the proportion of elderly people is steadily growing. Changes in the composition of the population will affect the demand for health personnel. Therefore, monitoring the changes in number and composition of health personnel is a matter of importance. This report describes the current situation for physicians and goes through three graduated classes, which can reveal a better understanding of the current situation. For this purpose, graduated classes from 2005, 2009 and 2013 have been selected.

The current situation is described by using cross-sectional data from 2016. However, this type of analysis will lack information on development over time. The time perspective in a dynamic analysis adds more knowledge about the analysis Objects.

The report shows an increasing trend in the number of graduated physicians, mainly due to many Norwegian students take their medical education abroad.

The report also shows a gender change in the composition of physicians, where female physicians are going to acquire the majority soon. The portion of graduated physicians is more and more dominated by females and they have a significantly younger age composition compared with male physicians.

It is more likely that physicians educated in Norway begin their careers in counties that have a university hospital compared to physicians educated abroad. This report shows that this variation disappears over time with the requirement of speciali¬zation for physicians. After completing the education, physicians spend an average of 8 years completing the specialist education. This means that physicians must follow the same track regardless of background.