08.05.2018: Are there lessons to be learned from the ‘burnout epidemic’ reported by doctors in the United States? Over a number of years it has been reported that American doctors are increasingly affected by the phenomenon referred to as ’burnout’ (1). Studies show that a little more than 50 % of all American doctors indicate that they are affected in at least one of the three dimensions of burnout: exhaustion, cynicism and reduced work effectiveness (2, 3). This is reported to be significantly higher than in other groups of American professionals, and a documented increase occurred in the group of...

24.05.2016: Like all those with a high level of education, doctors achieve high scores on quality of life indicators. They come out well with regard to life expectancy, illness, personal finances and job satisfaction. So is there any reason to be concerned about doctors’ health and satisfaction? Alternatively, we may look at it in this way: A proportion of doctors are burned out, stressed or unhappy in their work. This can have negative effects – not only for themselves, but also for their patients. If you could choose, ask Casalino & Crosson in an article (1) recently named the best article on medical...

24.05.2016: The quality of a publication by LEFO, Institute for Studies of the Medical Profession, is gaining international recognition. Over the years, the Institute for Studies of the Medical Profession has arranged a number of international, interdisciplinary research meetings, several of them resulting in scientific publications. This was also the case with the symposium that LEFO arranged in the summer of 2014, the topic of which was the relationship between doctors’ professional satisfaction, quality of medical care, and the governance and organisation of the health services (Journal of the...

15.03.2016: The world’s first degree programme in health care delivery science is offered by Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Health care managers are trained in how to reverse the continuous rise in health service costs. As a leader in Norwegian hospitals over many years, I have been amazed at everything that fails to function, despite committed professionals who make every possible effort. In this article I wish to share my experiences from this study programme. Leading educational experts from the Tuck School of Business and The Dartmouth Institute have combined forces to create this unique...

02.06.2015: Multidisciplinary collaboration is needed to steer the health services in the right direction. Concern is being expressed both in Norway and other Western countries that the health services are being steered in the wrong direction, with resulting professional dissatisfaction. The «Helsetjenesteaksjonen» (Health Services Campaign) in Norway and the Swedish «Läkaruppropet» (Doctors’ Call for Action) are Scandinavian examples of this, while international studies indicate that doctors are less satisfied with their jobs than previously (1). Last summer, LEFO – Institute for Studies of the Medical...

09.12.2014: Ideas that appear very strange to us have shaped views of epilepsy throughout our history. A number of creative, but mostly ineffective cures have been attempted. Older writings testify to the fact that persons with epileptic seizures have been discriminated against throughout history. We can hardly imagine what it was like to live with such seizures in an era when people believed that these were caused by evil spirits and that the spirits could affect or infect others (1). A well-known neurologist has claimed that «the history of epilepsy can be summarised as 4 000 years of ignorance...