[Trends and traditions in Scandinavian general medicine]

Recent decades have witnessed radical changes both in the workload and in the job description of general practitioners (GPs) in the Nordic countries, and the trend continues. Owing to social changes, particularly the deterioration in health care economy, the GPs will in the future be required to deal with increasing numbers of patients as well as increasingly severe categories of diseases, previously treated at hospital departments and clinics. This will entail increased demands in terms both of the further education of GPs and of the equipment available to them. It will also entail improved and extended cooperation between GPs and consultants, both in matters of overall policy and in the management of individual cases.