Tuva Kolstad Hertzberg1, Helge Skirbekk2, Reidar Tyssen3, Olaf Gjerløw Aasland4, Karin Isaksson Rø5. 1. Forskningsinstituttet Modum Bad Vikersund og Avdeling for medisinsk atferdsvitenskap Institutt for medisinske basalfag Det medisinske fakultet Universitetet i Oslo. 2. Lovisenberg diakonale høgskole Oslo. 3. Avdeling for medisinsk atferdsvitenskap Institutt for medisinske basalfag Det medisinske fakultet Universitetet i Oslo. 4. LEFO - Legeforskningsinstituttet Oslo. 5. LEFO - Legeforskningsinstituttet Oslo og Forskningsinstituttet Modum Bad Vikersund.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Norwegian hospital doctors emphasise the value of working hard and efficiently and of a high degree of attendance in the workplace. This helps establish social norms that guide behaviour within the professional culture. It is important to examine what consequences these values may entail when the doctor also needs to cater to his or her own needs. MATERIAL AND METHOD: We conducted eight focus-group interviews and three individual interviews among a total of 48 senior consultants and specialty registrars working in the areas of surgery, psychiatry and internal medicine. Total N = 48; 56 % women. The interviews were analysed with the aid of systematic text condensation. RESULTS: When Norwegian hospital doctors wish to appear as good doctors, they see that this entails consequences for the interrelationships with colleagues, the management and the work-life balance. Conflicts of interest arose between senior consultants and specialty registrars. Management initiatives to deal with absence, adaptation of the job to the life stage of each individual doctor and increased management involvement among doctors were among the measures proposed. INTERPRETATION: Better mutual knowledge between doctors and management with regard to each other’s values and responsibilities could constitute key premises for structural changes, for example in terms of better planning of leaves of absence and opportunities for adaptation of work schedules to the life stage of the persons concerned.
BACKGROUND: Norwegian hospital doctors emphasise the value of working hard and efficiently and of a high degree of attendance in the workplace. This helps establish social norms that guide behaviour within the professional culture. It is important to examine what consequences these values may entail when the doctor also needs to cater to his or her own needs. MATERIAL AND METHOD: We conducted eight focus-group interviews and three individual interviews among a total of 48 senior consultants and specialty registrars working in the areas of surgery, psychiatry and internal medicine. Total N = 48; 56 % women. The interviews were analysed with the aid of systematic text condensation. RESULTS: When Norwegian hospital doctors wish to appear as good doctors, they see that this entails consequences for the interrelationships with colleagues, the management and the work-life balance. Conflicts of interest arose between senior consultants and specialty registrars. Management initiatives to deal with absence, adaptation of the job to the life stage of each individual doctor and increased management involvement among doctors were among the measures proposed. INTERPRETATION: Better mutual knowledge between doctors and management with regard to each other’s values and responsibilities could constitute key premises for structural changes, for example in terms of better planning of leaves of absence and opportunities for adaptation of work schedules to the life stage of the persons concerned.