Research Burden in the Portuguese Residency Program: Cardiology's Unique Challenge

Area of Science:

• Medical Education Research
• Cardiology Training
• Healthcare Policy

Background:

• Medical residency programs require structured evaluation for effective training.
• Research output is a key component in assessing medical residents.
• Portugal's medical residency programs' evaluation criteria are under review.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze research output requirements in Portuguese medical residency final evaluations.
• To specifically examine cardiology's research demands compared to other specialties.
• To assess the alignment between research requirements and resident satisfaction.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of publicly available, specialty-specific evaluation grids (December 2024).
• Quantitative analysis of research item requirements across medical specialties.
• Comparison with national residency satisfaction survey data.

Main Results:

• Cardiology mandates 46 research items (highest) versus a median of 11 across specialties.
• Cardiology uniquely quantifies research project, clinical trial, and registry participation.
• Cardiology residents reported below-average satisfaction, with no correlation to research item load.

Conclusions:

• A potential disconnect exists between curricular research evaluation criteria and residency training realities.
• Current research output expectations may not foster a balanced or sustainable training environment.
• Revising evaluation metrics is recommended to improve medical residency training.