Background Rising workload in general practice has been a recent cause for concern in several countries; this is also the case in Norway. Long working hours and heavy workload seem to affect recruitment and retention of regular general practitioners (RGPs). We investigated Norwegian RGPs’ workload in terms of time used on patient-related office work, administrative work, municipality tasks and other professional activities in relation to RGPs, and gender, age, employment status and size of municipality. Methods In early 2018, an electronic survey was sent to all 4716 RGPs in Norway. In addition to demographic background, the RGP reported minutes per day used on various tasks in the RGP practice prospectively during 1 week. Working time also included additional tasks in the municipality, other professional work and on out-of-hours primary health care. Differences were analysed by chi square test, independent t-tests, and one-way ANOVA. Results Among 1876 RGPs (39.8%), the mean total working hours per week was 55.6, while the mean for regular number of working hours was 49.0 h weekly. Men worked 1.5 h more than women (49.7 vs. 48.2 h, p = 0.010). Self-employed RGPs work more than salaried RGPs (49.3 vs. 42.5 h, p < 0.001), and RGPs age 55–64 years worked more than RGPs at age 30–39 (51.1 vs. 47.3 h, p < 0.001). 54.1% of the regular working hours was used on face-to-face patient work. Conclusions Norwegian RGPs have long working hours compared to recommended regular working hours in Norway, with small gender differences. Only half of the working time is used on face-to-face consultations. There seems to be a trend of increasing workload among Norwegian GPs, at the cost of direct patient contact. Further research should address identifying factors that can reduce long working hours. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12913-019-4283-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background Repeated studies of working hours among Norwegian regular general practitioners (RGPs) have shown that the average total number of weekly working hours has remained unchanged since 1994 and up until 2014. For both male and female RGPs, the mean total weekly working hours amounted to almost 50 h in 2014. In recent years, Norwegian RGPs have become increasingly dissatisfied. They experience significantly increased workload without compensation in the form of more doctors or better payment. A study from the Norwegian Directorate of Health in 2018 (the RGP study) showed that Norwegian RGPs worked 55.6 h weekly (median 52.5). 25% of the respondents worked more than 62.2 h weekly. Based on data from the RGP study we investigated Norwegian RGP’s out-of-hours (OOH) work, how the working time was distributed, and to what extent the OOH work affected the regular working hours. Methods In early 2018, an electronic survey was sent to all 4640 RGPs in Norway. Each RGP reported how many minutes that were spent that particular day on various tasks during seven consecutive days. Working time also included additional tasks in the municipality, other professional medical work and OOH primary health care. Differences were analysed by independent t-tests, and regression analyses. Results One thousand eighty hundred seventy-six RGPs (40.4%) responded, 640 (34.1%) had registered OOH work. Male RGPs worked on average 1.5 h more doing regular work than did females (p = 0.001) and on average 2.3 h more OOH work than females (p = 0.079). RGPs with no OOH work registered a mean of 1.0 h more clinical work than RGPs working OOH (p = 0.043). There was a large variation in OOH working hours. A linear regression analysis showed that male RGPs and RGPs in rural areas had the heaviest OOH workload. Conclusions One in three Norwegian RGPs undertook OOH work during the registration week in the RGP study. OOH work was done in addition to a sizeable regular workload as an RGP. We found small gender differences. OOH work was not compensated with reduced regular RGP work.

The fact that most of the GPs who had treated paperless migrants would continue to receive this patient group and thus provide health services beyond this group’s entitlements, we regard as a wish to comply with the Code of Ethics for Norwegian doctors.

Background: Repeated studies of working hours among Norwegian regular general practitioners (RGPs) have shown that the average total number of weekly working hours has remained unchanged since 1994 and up until 2014. For both male and female RGPs, the mean total weekly working hours amounted to almost 50 hours in 2014. In recent years, Norwegian RGPs have become increasingly dissatisfied. They experience significantly increased workload without compensation in the form of more doctors or better payment. A study from the Norwegian Directorate of Health in 2018 (the RGP study) showed that Norwegian RGPs worked 55.6 hours weekly (median 52.5). 25% of the respondents worked more than 62.2 hours weekly. Based on data from the RGP study we investigated Norwegian RGP’s out-of-hours (OOH) work, how the working time was distributed, and to what extent the OOH work affected the regular working hours.Methods: In early 2018, an electronic survey was sent to all 4640 RGPs in Norway. Each RGP reported how many minutes that were spent that particular day on various tasks during seven consecutive days. Working time also included additional tasks in the municipality, other professional medical work and OOH primary health care. Differences were analysed by independent t-tests, and regression analyses. Results: 1876 RGPs (40.4%) responded, 640 (34.1%) had registered OOH work. Male RGPs worked on average 1.5 hours more doing regular work than did females (p=0.001) and on average 2.3 hours more OOH work than females (p=0.079). RGPs with no OOH work registered a mean of 1.0 hours more clinical work than RGPs working OOH (p=0.043). There was a large variation in OOH working hours. A linear regression analysis showed that male RGPs and RGPs in rural areas had the heaviest OOH workload. Conclusions: One in three Norwegian RGPs undertook OOH work during the registration week in the RGP study. OOH work was done in addition to a sizeable regular workload as an RGP. We found small gender differences. OOH work was not compensated with reduced regular RGP work.

Background Repeated studies of working hours among Norwegian regular general practitioners (RGPs) have shown that the average total weekly working hours have remained unchanged since 1994 until 2014. For both male and female RGPs the mean total weekly working hours were almost 50 hours in 2014. In recent years there has been an outcry of dissatisfaction among Norwegian RGPs. They experience significantly increased workload without compensation, such as more doctors or better payments. A study from the Norwegian Directorate of Health in 2018 (the RGP study) showed that Norwegian RGPs worked 55.6 hours weekly (median 52.5). 25% of the respondents worked more than 62.2 hours weekly. Based on data from the RGP-study we investigated Norwegian RGPs work out-of-hours (OOH), how the working time was distributed, and to which extent the OOH work affected the regular working hours.Methods In early 2018, an electronic survey was sent to all 4716 RGPs in Norway. Each RGP reported prospectively how many minutes per day they used on various tasks during one week. Working time also included additional tasks in the municipality, other professional medical work and OOH primary health care. Differences were analyzed by independent t-tests, and regression analyses.Results 1876 RGPs (39.8%) responded, 640 (34.1%) had registered OOH work. Male RGPs worked in average 1.5 hours more with regular work than females (p=0.001) and in average 2.3 hours more OOH work than females (p=0.079). RGPs with no OOH work registered a mean of 1.0 hours more clinical work than RGPs working OOH (p=0.043). There was a large variation in OOH working hours. A linear regression analysis showed that male RGPs and RGPs in rural areas had the highest OOH workload.Conclusions Every third of Norwegian RGPs participated in OOH work during the registration week in the RGP study. OOH work was done in addition to a high regular workload as RGP. We found small gender differences. OOH work did not lead to reduced regular RGP work.