Duties performed by occupational physicians in Norway

Occupational health care for all is a global aim but has not yet been achieved. Further development should be based on knowledge of specific alternative models of occupational health services (OHS). Little is published on different OHS models and work as a physician in these services.

To describe duties for Norwegian physicians working in two different OHS models: internal and external. In the internal model, the physician is employed in an OHS located at the company served, whereas in the external model, OHS time is shared between several companies and the physician is often located outside the companies.

A web-based survey was sent to all members of the Norwegian Occupational Medicine Association.

There were 206 responses (response rate of 73%). Only those working as OHS physicians were included (54%). Physicians in external OHS performed individual health examinations to a greater extent, otherwise few differences between physicians working in internal and external OHS were found. Changes in the priority of the physicians' duties through a period of 20 years seem to be related to changes in legislation and official guidelines related to OHS practice.

In this study, OHS physicians in Norway performed a large number of individual-based health examinations but this was seen more in the external OHS model. Otherwise physicians' duties had similar priority in the external and internal models. Legislation and official guidelines seem to be of major importance to the duties performed.