Physicians Perception of Rheumatology Practice and Training in India

To assess physicians' perception and their felt competence in dealing with patients with rheumatic complaints.

We assessed the quantum of rheumatological disorders seen by physicians in India, their felt competency in dealing with such patients, and their perceived adequacy of undergraduate and postgraduate medical training in Rheumatology by means of an anonymized questionnaire conducted at the annual national conference of internal medicine specialists.

Our analysis of 333 respondents revealed that while they saw an average of 10 patients with rheumatic complaints every month, the felt competence in dealing with such cases was only a median of 6/10 (interquartile range 5-7). About 75% professed little or no exposure to Rheumatology as undergraduates, whereas only 20% perceived adequacy of training during internal medicine residency to treat such diseases confidently. 78.37% and 67.7% perceived an inadequacy of rheumatology training at undergraduate and postgraduate level respectively, and 83% felt the need for further training or sensitization in Rheumatology.

There remains an unmet need to enhance existing undergraduate and postgraduate internal medicine curricula in India to impart greater skills in the diagnosis and management of rheumatic diseases. Initiatives and government funding to establish short-term training courses in Rheumatology for established internal medicine faculty, to enable them to provide basic Rheumatology services at their respective hospitals, are urgently needed.