Background. Certain aspects (frequency and management) of medical emergencies in Norwegian municipalities have not been adequately documented. Previous studies indicate an annual incidence rate of about 10 emergency contacts per 1 000 inhabitants. This article presents results from recording of medical emergencies during two years in the Norwegian municipality Austevoll; an island community (without a mainland connection) south of Bergen, with 4 400 citizens.

For emergency medicine work general practitioners should focus on training fundamental practical skills. The doctors and the ambulance personnel have complementary roles in handling of medical emergency events. Ability of obtaining an adequate overall view of the patient's condition is an important aspect of the doctor's role.

The large variations in the use of emergency medical services indicate that more RGPs should take measures to improve accessibility for emergency calls during the daytime.

During childhood and the teenage years there are substantial differences between the sexes when it comes to the prescription pick-up rate for ADHD medication. This may suggest that girls who suffer from ADHD go through large parts of their statutory education before they are diagnosed and receive treatment. GPs play an important role in the treatment of ADHD.

Ambulance personnel have strong confidence in their own occupational group's competence in practical handling of patients. Strengthened formal competence combined with increased possibilities for initial medical treatment in the ambulances, may have contributed to an expanded role for ambulance personnel within pre-hospital emergency care. Smooth cooperation between regular general practitioners and ambulance personnel requires that both parties increase their understanding of the other group's procedures and roles.

The number of women RGPs is increasing, and it is therefore likely that the frequency of on-call duty among RGPs will decrease further. However, the immigrants are providing a significant contribution to maintaining the A&E scheme.

Availability of equipment and laboratory test repertoire for GPs on duty at out-of-hours services seems to depend on whether the services are shared with GP surgeries and also used at daytime, and the distance to ambulance, hospital and pharmacy. Lack of routines for laboratory work and low training frequency in acute medical procedures may lead to poor quality of the analyses and lower competence than needed.

The reduced contact rates for infectious diseases may be ascribed to an effect of the campaign, but other factors may also have contributed to this result.