There is a great shortage of staff to work in the entire healthcare system, and the Vestfjörður Health Institute is no exception.

Various ways have been taken to solve the problem in the short and long term. One of them was to advertise outside the country with the help of social media and drone images of the natural beauty of Vestfjörður.

There was considerable interest among the Danes, especially in coming for a shorter or longer period of time, and that has really saved us.

The connection with Denmark is strong within Ísafjörður. We have the mothers Anette, a nurse, and Kristrúna, who grew up on Ísafjörður but studied medicine in Denmark, and Súsanna, the medical manager, stayed there for a long time studying and working, as well as various connections with other employees.

In the fall, we will be in the operating room with Jørgen, Jan (who has worked in Denmark for a long time but is a native Polish speaker) and Gitte, who will be on duty one at a time for a considerable part of the fall. At the health care center, Casper and Patrick have arrived, and later this autumn a Danish couple will come to work.

However, having foreign doctors does not solve all problems, especially because of the language. We have had to make considerable changes to various internal working arrangements with glossaries, training and instructions of various kinds for the doctors, among other things about how the Icelandic welfare system is structured.

Many solutions if everyone helps

Then there is communication with patients and relatives. Many are fluent in Danish, other Nordic languages or English, and then communication goes well. However, this is not the case for everyone. In those cases, there are many solutions that we try to apply depending on the situation:

  • Other healthcare professionals—nurses, paramedics, health data scientists, and receptionists—interpret and translate, and even come on call to do so if needed.
  • We try as much as possible to direct those who do not speak Danish or English to Icelandic doctors.
  • We also try to arrange shifts so that Danish doctors are not the only ones on duty, but this does not always work. For example, Danish doctors will sometimes go to the health centers in Flateyri, Suðureyri, Súðavík and Þingeyri.
  • Many patients can bring a relative who can help with translation.
  • In many cases, it's individual words that come up, and translation technology on smartphones and computers works well for that.
  • Work is underway to establish a telephone interpretation service between Icelandic and Danish. We already use telephone interpretation when patients do not know English or Icelandic, and it works well.

We are extremely happy with this good staff and the goodwill and adaptability that patients and colleagues have shown in relation to this.

GO