Anaesthesiology and Reanimation Education in Turkey: Residents' Views

This study aimed to determine opinions of medical residents undergoing anaesthesia and reanimation training about equipment, programmes, applications, study conditions and shift systems at training institutions in Turkey.

A web-based survey was sent by e-mail to residents in anaesthesiology and reanimation training programmes. The survey comprised 73 questions about demographic characteristics, satisfaction, basic specialisation knowledge, anxiety and motivation.

The study included 270 individuals. Of the residents, 82.2% willingly chose their field, whereas 66.7% stated that specialisation was necessary because of incorrect application of first-stage and GP medical services. The mean of the weekly working hours was 91.69±36.69 hours; the mean number of monthly on-call shifts was 7.49±1.99. Of the participants, 61.9% found the predicted five-year training duration long. The intensive care training duration was sufficient for 71.1% and only 26.3% found the pain management training duration sufficient.

According to the results, the number of residents is insufficient, workload is heavy, working hours are long and large numbers of shifts are worked without leave afterwards. In spite of negatives and high dissatisfaction, most residents willingly chose their departments and would choose the same branches again. Participants stated that their institutions emphasised service rather than education and research, and educators were less accessible to residents due to increasing service loads.