Abstract
Objectives
To evaluate the learning climate (LC) and quality of training in postgraduate training
courses in gynecology and obstetrics in Italy, as essential element to improve the
training quality of future medical specialists.
Study Design
Web-based anonymous survey sent to all Italian trainees in gynecology and obstetrics
to assess LC and quality of postgraduate training courses. This included sociodemographic
information, details regarding training positions, and a 50-item validated Dutch Residency
Educational Climate Test (D-RECT) questionnaire with 11 subscales (1–5 Likert scale).
At the same time, the 24-items Fifth Year Training Questionnaire (FYT-Q) was submitted
to all trainees at the fifth year of training to assess quality of life (burnout and
depression), quality of training and final achieved competency level. Descriptive
statistics were used to describe the main characteristics of the study population
and for the D-RECT and the FYT-Q results.
Results
One hundred seventy-eight trainees’ responses were included from 13 departments, yielding
a department response rate of 33%. The mean composite score of the D-RECT was 3.185
(SD 0.305). The subscales “Formal education” and “Role of specialty tutor” scored
a mean of 2.751 (SD 0.123) and 2.757 (SD 0.130), respectively. Sixty-four FYT-Q evaluations
were completed. The 33% of trainees reported more than 56 weekly working hours. At
least one burnout episode during the training was reported by 61% of the trainees,
and the 45% of them reported one or more episode of depression. More than 50% of trainees
reported adequate autonomy for gynecologic ultrasound, obstetrics first level ultrasound,
hysteroscopy, and cesarean section. In FYT-Q adequacy of training, teaching, surgical
teaching, and tutoring values resulted equal to or less than 3 in a 1–5 Likert scale.
Conclusions
D-RECT and FYT-Q questionnaires show a training that requires improvement, although
the results do not seem to be completely consistent. D-RECT emphasizes the need for
a better formal teaching and specialty tutors to ensure training with better LC. Interventions
are needed to improve LC and quality of training in postgraduate training courses
in gynecology and obstetrics in Italy.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 23, 2019
Accepted:
July 20,
2019
Received in revised form:
July 6,
2019
Received:
February 20,
2019
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
