[Medical education in Norway. One common education, four different models]

There are four medical schools in Norway- in Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and Tromsø. The curriculum at each faculty has undergone many changes during the last decade. The four curricula vary in both content and teaching methods. Two of the faculties base their curricula on problem-based learning and two have chosen other approaches. Terms with clerkships in local hospitals and in the primary health care system exist in each curriculum as periods which the students must spend on research work of their own choice. All faculties set the same standards in practical clinical skills with which the students must be familiar before graduation. We believe that having four different curricular is of benefit to the education of doctors. Only future evaluation and standard national examinations will determine whether there are any measurable differences in the practical and theoretical knowledge among graduates coming from these medical schools.