Training for general practice: a look to Norway.

In the 1960s general practitioners were a dying race in Norway. Today general practice is a highly approved specialty among doctors as well as patients. Better education is one of the revitalizing factors. General practice is currently taught as a mandatory subject at all four universities in Norway. The practice apprenticeship is the essential element in our undergraduate curricula. In their fifth year, the students spend three to eight weeks in a structured training program supervised by general practice faculty. Approximately 500 general practitioners take part in this decentralized training network. In 1985 general practice was recognized as a specialty in Norway. The obligatory requirements in the five-year educational program are: -courses, 400 hours -hospital training, one year -general practice training, four years -group-based training program, two years The last element is based on a decentralized concept where a group of two to 10 trainees meet for three hours every two weeks during a two-year period. The group is headed by an appointed and qualified trainer. Besides being in accordance with the geography and demography of Norway, this model gives substance to the slogan "general practice can only be learnt in general practice."