[It is still beneficial to be a tutor physician]

In 1991 a new reform for postgraduate trainees was introduced in Denmark. As a result of the reform the average postgraduate experience of trainees in general practice declined from six to seven years to one to two years and the training in general practice became compulsory for all. It was expected that these changes would require more supervision of the trainees by their tutor doctors, and some general practitioners no longer wished to receive trainees. In this light an investigation was conducted from August 1992 to July 1993. Questionnaires were sent to tutors who had employed a trainee with less than 25 months of postgraduate experience since 1990. As a precondition questionnaires were only sent to tutors who had also employed trainees before the reform. Two hundred and twenty-eight of the questionnaires were returned. The tutors were asked to compare their assessments of the pre- and post-reform arrangements. According to the answers the young trainees contributed less to the everyday work and they earned the same as or less for the practice than their more experienced predecessors. The tutors were furthermore asked to give a specific assessment of the young trainee working at the moment in general practice. The tutors found sufficient skills in the trainees, they found relief in their workload and a neutral or improved economics due to the trainees In spite of the trainees being less experienced and a need for more supervision and education as compared to the time before the reform, the tutors still agreed that having a trainee in their practice was an overall benefit.