Cohort profile: study of practical undergraduate education in Germany

Abstract

Introduction: Expecting a significant lack of medical doctors in a few years, there has been growing concern how to attract young doctors to work in hospitals and private practices in areas of shortage. To address workforce shortages, we need more detailed information about medical students' and young doctors' expectations and the factors discouraging them from choosing certain careers. To obtain this information, a national brain trust developed a cross-sectional questionnaire focusing on the internships. In this publication we introduce the study as well as the internet-based online data collecting process as a basis the presentation of our subsequent data analyses, which will be performed for different research topics and subgroups. Material and Methods: A national brain trust designed an online-based survey with a minimum of 153 questions per participant. The questionnaire was open for participant input nationwide from Friday, 13th of 15 April 2012 until Monday, 24th of September 2012. A total of 9,079 medical students and junior residents finally answered the questionnaire. Results:The results from our pilot study show that the questionnaire is actually measuring motivational and frustrating factors of future German doctors. Participants on average answered this survey within 1.05 days; however, there was a very wide range. Most questionnaires were completed on Fridays. We did not identify relevant associations between higher e-learning affinity, more intense computer uses or the size of university and faster submission of questionnaires. There also were no gender differences. Further analyses of the survey data will be performed to learn more about motivational and frustrating factors.Discussion: Central parameters of the results are comparable to other studies. We are confident that the questionnaire has enough statistical power to answer the questions that were addressed and that must be answered to prevent a severe lack of medical practitioners in a few years.