Does the University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway educate doctors to work in rural communities?

BACKGROUND When Storting (the Norwegian Parliament) resolved in 1968 to build the University of Tromso, the purpose of the study model was to promote recruitment and a stable GP density throughout North Norway. We wanted to shed light on the degree to which GPs and doctors in health trusts who were graduates of the University of Tromso work in rural and central municipalities, and at university hospitals and other hospitals respectively. MATERIAL AND METHOD We used de-identified data covering 406 GPs and 909 doctors in health trusts who had graduated from the University of Tromso in the period 1979 – 2012. RESULTS A larger share of GPs educated at the University of Tromso (30 %) worked in rural municipalities compared with all GPs in Norway (19 %). GPs educated at the University of Tromso staffed 57 % of the positions in central municipalities and 34 % of the positions in rural municipalities in North Norway. A larger share of doctors in health trusts (64 %) educated at the University of Tromso worked at a university hospital compared with all doctors in health trusts in Norway (56 % worked at a university hospital). Over half (53 %) of the doctors at the University Hospital of North Norway were graduates of the University of Tromso. In Nordland and Finnmark, the corresponding percentage at health trusts varied between 14 and 28 %. INTERPRETATION Our data suggest that medical studies at the University of Tromso make a considerable contribution to GP density in rural communities and to solid recruitment to the University Hospital of North Norway.