Evaluation of the rotation practices of family medicine residency students in the education process and their opinions about rotation practices

INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE: In the family medicine system, which is the basis of our health system, the competence of family medicine specialists and therefore family medicine residency students is important. The aim of this study is to put forth the opinions of family medicine residents about the rotations they make during their education, the deficiencies in the rotations and the factors that cause this from the perspective of the residents. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The population of the study, which was designed as a cross-sectional descriptive study, was family medicine residency students in Turkey. No sampling method was used for the study. An online survey was administered to 513 residency students via social media. The questionnaire form used in our study consists of a sociodemographic information form and a rotation evaluation form inspired by TUKMOS recommendations and similar studies. RESULTS: The majority of the participants answered that the rotation targets were not informed to them before the rotation. When the answers were compared between residency students studying in university and training and research hospitals, there was no significant difference in emergency medicine and neurology rotations, while the rate of being informed in other rotations was significantly higher in residency students studying in training and research hospitals. It was observed that the participants mostly researched the rotation target before starting the rotation. Participants responded mostly as enough for the rotation duration. The skin and venereal diseases rotation were the most appropriate response to the situations that may be encountered in the field and the core training program. Compared to those trained in the university hospital, residency students trained in the training and research hospital thought that gynecology and obstetrics and pediatrics rotations were more compatible with core training, while internal medicine and gynecology and obstetrics rotations were more compatible with the field. In the open-ended questions asked to the participants, the most common deficiency in not getting the necessary training was to fill the personnel shortage due to the need for labor in the rotation and insufficient time in the polyclinic. While in the solution proposals, 'Rotationary should not be considered as a workforce in the department where he/she goes, education should be prioritized' stands out. CONCLUSION: Family medicine specialists have an important role in protecting and improving public health. Giving rotations in the specialty education process in accordance with the core curriculum and with a primary care orientation by establishing a balance between education and service will have a positive impact on public health and health expenditures. Keywords: Family Medicine, Specialization Training, Rotation Training