Skills of pre-registration house officers: gender differences reported in Norway

During training pre-registration house officers should acquire skills, practical clinical procedures, and good clinical judgement, in order to be able to practice on their own. This is not always the case (Flaatten et al. 1987). Ten years ago the Norwegian Health Authorities issued a regulation regarding the content of hospital training (6 months internal medicine and surgery, respectively). A number of practical skills to be learned were listed. As part of an assessment of the quality of the internship, a study was carried out into what extent the pre-registration house officers had acquired these clinical skills.