[Complaints about primary care physicians]. / Klager på leger i primaerhelsetjenesten.

The most serious complaints against general practitioners are investigated and dealt with by the Directorate of Health. A systematic review of 100 cases of complaint from 1983 up to 21 May 1992 showed that 57 of them concerned an urgent need of medical assistance and deputizing service. One-quarter of the complaints concerned telephone consultations. Incorrect diagnosis was the most frequent reason for the complaint. More than half of the cases referred to acute somatic diseases and accidents. The results will be used jointly by the Directorate of Health and the Norwegian Medical Association to improve practice.

[Ambulance helicopters in the mountains. An evaluation of the 1-year activity at the Dombås base]. / Legehelikopter i fjellbygder. Evaluering av ett års drift av Dombåsbasen.

On 1 January 1988 the Norwegian Air Ambulance Plan was put into effect. The operational base for the regional counties Oppland, parts of South Trøndelag, Møre and Romsdal and Hedmark was established in the township of Dombås. The base had a helicopter staffed with a specialist in emergency medicine. The operation of this base was evaluated for the period 1 February 1988 to 1 February 1989. 242 missions were undertaken. In 27 of 184 primary missions (15%) and in 11 of 32 secondary missions (33%) the service was judged to have given health benefit. It may have prevented the death of 13 patients. The service costs during the year were approximately NOK 10 million. The cost-benefit ratio is judged to be too high. In inland-Norway, with a widely scattered population, it is probably better to improve the quality of the emergency services offered by general practitioners and ordinary road ambulances than to use a helicopter staffed with a specialist in emergency medicine.