Push and pull factors for migration of foreign pharmacists to Norway

Abstract

Migration of foreign pharmacists to Norway has increased considerably in recent years. Data from the Directorate of Health shows that 1592 foreign pharmacists received authorization in Norway from 2013 to 2021 as compared to 1952 Norwegian pharmacists. There are several theories of migration, but “push and pull theory” is the most widely used approach to learn about reasons of migration. According to this theory, migration takes place due to “push factors” in the origin countries and “pull factors” in destination countries. The aim of this study was to gain in-depth understanding of the migration trends of foreign pharmacists to Norway. This was done by determining “push and pull factors” which are involved in this migration. The master project is a qualitative study using semi-structured in-depth interviews with foreign pharmacists. I have interviewed 14 pharmacists from six different countries, which were audio recorded. These recordings were transcribed verbatim and coded in NVivo 1.5 software. Thematic analysis was performed to analyse these interviews. There were four main themes for push factors and seven main themes for pull factors that emerged after the analysis. Three of them were common in push and pull factors, one was present only in push factors and four were present only in pull factors. “Socio-political and economic factors”, “personal factors”, and “friends and family” were common main themes. “Occupational factors” were only identified in push factors. “Active recruitment”, “authorisation process”, “social media” and “Norway was well known” were present only in pull factors. These factors were involved at both axis of migration, i.e., the origin countries and the destination countries. A quantitative study based on questionnaire would further strengthen the findings of this study.