title: Short-term career perspectives of young cardiologists in the Netherlands.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Since it was anticipated that the need for doctors would increase due to demographic changes, the number of positions for medical specialty training programs has increased from the year 2000 onwards. However, the number of permanent positions for young cardiologists did not follow that trend leading to concerns about future employment. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to assess short-term career perspectives of young cardiologists in the Netherlands.
  
  
  METHODS
  All cardiologists who ended their training between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2014 were invited to fill in a questionnaire about their first employment status and were followed yearly until the participant had a permanent position. The timespan between the end of training and the moment of permanent employment was assessed. Furthermore, the association between professional profile and short-term career perspectives was investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The observed unemployment was 1.6% and lasted less than a year in all cases. Of the participants, 77% started their career with a temporary contract; within four years this was 7%. Of young cardiologists, 46% started their career as a fellow and 24% as an attending physician. A total of 29% of male cardiologists started their career with a permanent contract as compared with 12% of females (p = 0.01). Within two years this difference was no longer observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Unemployment is low among young cardiologists. Most cardiologists start their career with a temporary contract. The time to a permanent contract is slightly longer for female cardiologists as compared with males.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. j.c.vis@amc.nl.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Vis
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Borleffs
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, St Antonius Hospital, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zwart
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Erasmus Medical Centre Utrecht, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Nuis
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: R W C
authors.initials: RWC
authors.lastname: Scherptong
keywords: Career choice; Contracts; Employment