A survey for the evaluation of the training period of cardiology specialists in Turkey.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate postgraduate training period, social life and problems of cardiology residents in Turkey by using a questionnaire form and to compare with the core curriculum of European Society of Cardiology for general cardiology.


METHODS
Overall, 529 residents of cardiology ages in range of 24-35 years (mean age: 26.5±2.0 years, 81.4% male) participated as volunteers in this cross-sectional survey study. An 86-item questionnaire form was used to evaluate the education process, capacity of knowledge and skill and social effectiveness level of participants. The questionnaire were composed both closed- and open-ended questions. The questionnaire form was filled in with the face-to-face communication method. The data of survey were compared with the core curriculum of European Society of Cardiology for general cardiology training period. Chi-square or Fischer exact test was used for statistical analysis.


RESULTS
The participants were working in various university hospitals (70.3%) and training-research (state) hospitals in 31 different provinces in Turkey (40.8% in Marmara region). They visited 40±10 outpatients and 10±5 hospitalized pts daily in the clinics. The 3-5 residents worked at the clinic on night shifts and mostly (89%) 8 or more night shifts per month were held in their first training years. During first three-years of training 76% of residents have performed echocardiography, 40.8%-transesophageal echocardiography and 10% - intraoperative echocardiography. The 84.3% of them evaluated exercise tests, 76.4%-Holter electrocardiography and 53.3%-tilt-table tests. The rate of residents working in coronary angiography laboratories was 54.3%. The 53.7% of residents performed coronary angiography and 64%-only in the 4th year of their training. The number of coronary angiography performance was under expected when compared with European Society of Cardiology curriculum. The 18.5% of residents were participated as assistant researcher in an international multi-center study and only 10% had an article published in national journals (4.3% published in Science Citation Index). The 30.6% considered the cardiology training period in their centers to be insufficient, whereas 37.4% found it partially sufficient and 31.9% sufficient. Only 32.9% of participants could dedicate time for social activities.


CONCLUSIONS
According to the referred core curriculum of ESC for general cardiology the training of cardiology residents in non-invasive applications is adequate however coronary angiography applications are slightly insufficient in Turkey. In addition, the number of publications per capita is quiet low.
Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, İzmir, Turkey. bserhatyildiz@yahoo.com
Bekir Serhat
BS
Yıldız
Mustafa Beyazıt
MB
Alkan
Hasan
H
Güngör
Ilker
I
Gül
Murat
M
Bilgin
Mustafa
M
Akın
Sanem
S
Nalbantgil
Mehdi
M
Zoghi
D000328:Adult; D002309:Cardiology / Q000193:education*; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003479:Curriculum; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey; D055815:Young Adult