The effect of the developments regarding the specialty training programs on the perspective of the family medicine residents to their own training and their future expectations

Objective Residents who are being trained in family medicine also are part of their training. Therefore, findings about their feelings and thoughts about their education will act as a guide for us in assessing the specialty training. Besides in recent years in our country, there have been rapid changes regarding the specialists and residents of family medicine. Our primary objective was to learn thoughts of our residents about specialty training and family medicine practice. Besides, to elucidate of specialty training program by obtaining their thoughts and expectations. Method Our study is a descriptive, cross-sectional questionnaire study. We identified all the residents of family medicine who are still getting specialty training in our country as our study universe. The questionnaire form was delivered to the participants by using the `Surveey Online Questionnaire System?. The specified time interval for filling out the questionnaire was between 15/07/2012-15/09/2012. The residents of family medicine who responded to our questionnaire during this period were enrolled in our study. SPSS 17 package program was used for the data analysis. Results A total of 99 residents of family medicine were enrolled in our study. Most of the residents have chosen family medicine for social reasons. 51 residents found family medicine specialty training sufficient whereas 41 residents did not. 26 of first year residents, 17 of second year residents and 32 of third year residents think that family medicine residency training period is sufficient. 34 residents who work at universities and 14 residents who work at education and research hospitals found the rotation period sufficient. 39 of the residents stated that they are `hopeful? for the future of family medicine in our country, whereas 47 of them are `hopeless?. 35 residents were hopeful and 48 were hopeless about the future of the current family medicine practice in our country. 84 of the residents have known about the ?part-time remotely specialist training? model, whereas six residents stated that they had no knowledge about the issue. 59 residents who believe that the ?part-time remotely specialist training? model is unfavorable reported that they got affected negatively by the presence of such a probability, whereas 10 residents reported they did not get affected. 56 of the residents stated that there should be sub-specialty training in family medicine. 37 of these residents suggested geriatrics as the sub-specialty branch. Conclusion Our residents believe that they do not get educated enough during their specialty training and that field training should be performed. They were pessimistic about the future of the specialization in family medicine and the condition of the model of the current health system. About one third of them are thinking about quitting the specialty training which supports this conclusion. Key words: Family medicine, specialty training, questionnaire, cross-sectional study