[Training in internal medicine: the young internists' point of view]

In France, internal medicine is a speciality obtained after 5 years of theoretical and practical training, often completed by additional years. The last version of the official training program was released in 2004 and was characterised by its polyvalence. After the reform of medical studies was announced, the French young internists group decided to carry out a survey in order to know the vision of the young internist about their initial theoretical and practical training. This survey was done online using a questionnaire from February 10th to April 8th, 2010. One hundred and twenty-three young internists under training completed the questionnaire. The results showed that a high number of trainees chose a subspeciality and took a complementary training afterwards. About 63% of them would rather have more theoretical training through lectures (72%) and oral presentations (58%). Eighty-eight per cent of young internists would rather have a national frame of reference with a common training program. According to 73% of the young internists who completed the survey, the practical training is adapted but 95% of them would like to be given the opportunity to have some consultation during their initial training. Seventy-nine per cent of the young internists seem to be interested in the clinical research but most of them (89%) think to be not well trained enough to do it.