[Foreign physicians in Norwegian hospitals].

Because of the increasing number of foreign doctors seeking employment in Norwegian hospitals, a survey was undertaken to estimate their numbers, and to study how they and their chief physicians assess their working situation, and whether it could possibly be improved. 15% of the hospital physicians were foreign, about half of these had other language backgrounds than Swedish or Danish. 55% of the departments employed foreign doctors. The median time in Norway for these doctors was 33 months. Doctors from outside Scandinavia were less satisfied with their working situation than were doctors with a Swedish or Danish background, and this was also reflected in the views of the chief physicians. The language difficulties experienced by the foreign doctors were considered to be greater by their chief physicians than by the foreign doctors themselves. Emphasis should be placed on language and cultural training, building supporting networks, and improving the qualifications of Norwegian physicians to enable them to work in cross-cultural environments.