[Gender, work load and list profile in general practice. Experiences from a patient listing project]

A list patient project was carried out in four Norwegian municipalities in 1993. Female general practitioners from one of the involved communities soon showed frustration about the their experience that the new system had increased their work load. Although the new system was intended primarily to serve the needs of the population, the problems experienced by the female doctors were taken as warnings about future problems for the servants of the system. We therefore wanted to study relationships between experienced work load, list profiles and procedures for establishment of the patient lists among male and female doctors in Trondheim and Tromsø, the two largest project municipalities. Our data confirm the impression of increased work load and dissatisfaction with the list profiles. We find that female doctors have shorter lists and a higher proportion of female patients, and are less accessible. We discuss elements which might influence these problems in the future, especially as regards list profiles, the establishment of lists, and priorities related to people's free choice of doctor.