[Critical shortage of personnel in nephrology. Assessment of causes of the crisis and suggestion for solution].
The heavier work load for qualified nephrologists in Norway over the last ten years is described and compared with the number of positions. The increase in the number of dialysis treatments, care of renal transplant patients and other tasks performed by qualified nephrologists is roughly doubled from 1985 to 1995. By contrast the number of employed qualified nephrologists to pursue the work has only increased by 20% over the same period. As of today there is a lack of capacity to educate new nephrologists to fill up forthcoming vacancies. When the actual need for nephrologists is taken into account, the discrepancy is much more serious and will become even more so over the next ten years if no immediate action is taken. We suggest the establishment of six new educational positions. Altogether, these six new positions will provide the capacity to educate a reasonable number of trained nephrologists to meet future challenges, to the benefit of patients.
Nordal
K P
KP
Nyreseksjonen, Medisinsk avdeling B, Rikshospitalet, Oslo.
Hartmann
A
A
Leivestad
T
T
Halvorsen
S
S
Iversen
B M
BM
Widerøe
T E
TE
Julsrud
J
J
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D004651:Employment; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009398:Nephrology / Q000193:education / Q000592:standards; D009664:Norway; D010820:Physicians; D000078329:Workforce; D016526:Workload