A comparative study of diagnostic practice in psychiatry in Northern Norway and Northwest Russia.

Background: The co-operation between psychiatrists in Norway and Russia is increasing. The object of this study was to find out whether there were differences in diagnostic practice of psychiatrists in both countries, to look at the nature of the differences and to examine whether these differences affected diagnostic quality.

Method: Thirty medical doctors working at psychiatric hospitals in both countries diagnosed 12 clinical case vignettes selected from a wide spectre of psychiatric disorders.