With which level of competence do young medical professionals take up their career? - A survey among postgraduate trainees in Bavaria

Undergraduate training aims to enable medical students to become fully qualified physicians. The aim of the study was to explore the competences that newly graduated doctors (beginners) bring along from medical school into their postgraduate training. In this way areas can be identified that need to be better addressed during either under- or postgraduate training. Competencies were assessed using a paper-based questionnaire that was sent out to 405 physicians in Bavaria being in the possession of a postgraduate training license in internal medicine, surgery and anaesthesiology. The questionnaire included items exploring the fields of competencies outlined in the CanMeds role descriptions. The results were analyzed using descriptive and exploratory methods. 190 of 405 questionnaires (47 %) were returned. 96 % of the participants were male, the average age was 54 years. The results indicated that most young medical professionals had the necessary theoretical knowledge to take up postgraduate training. However, putting theory into practice does not work well enough from the physician's point of view. An approach to further support the transfer of enormous amounts of theoretical knowledge acquired during years of study into medical expertise is needed. In this respect, recently published competence-based curricula for under- and postgraduate training might prove useful.