Current Opinions on Family Medicine Residency Training: Part-time vs Full-time Education

Aim: The implementation of two different types of family medicine residency training program in Turkey, started a discussion among the academicians in our country. We planned this study to compare the opinions of domestic and foreign WONCA - Europe 2015 participants about the family medicine specialty education models based on Turkey example. Methods: Survey forms prepared in English and Turkish were submitted to the family physicians who agreed to participate in the study. Results: Participants reported two different views on the duality of family medicine residency training in Turkey. Participants from Turkey tended to have more negative opinions about the future and the sufficiency of part-time training and they demonstrated a more positive stance on the exam to select residency trainees and necessity of the scientific research and preparation of theses. Conclusions: Part-time training is a new practice for Turkey, but it has been experienced in many countries in the world for a long time. The opinions about the part-time expertise in our country seem to be negative, but it will be possible to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of this system with the success of the doctors who will become residents with the system. Amac: Turkiye’de uygulanmakta olan iki farkli aile hekimligi uzmanlik egitim programi ulkemizdeki akademisyenler arasinda tartismaya yol acmistir. Bu calismayi, yerli ve yabanci WONCA katilimcilarinin, Turkiye’yi de ornek vererek aile hekimligi uzmanlik egitim modelleri konusundaki goruslerini karsilastirmak icin planladik. Yontem: Arastirmaya katilmayi kabul eden aile hekimlerine Ingilizce ve Turkce hazirlanmis anket formlari sunuldu. Bulgular: Kendilerine Turkiye’deki tam ve yari zamanli uzmanlik egitimi hakkinda kisa bir bilgi verilen katilimcilar, Turkiye'de aile hekimligi meslek egitiminde karsilasilan ikilem konusunda farkli gorusler bildirdiler. Yerli katilimcilar yari zamanli egitimin gelecegi ve yeterliligine iliskin daha olumsuz gorusler bildirirken, uzmanlik sinavi ve bilimsel arastirma ve tez hazirlama gerekliligi konusunda pozitif bir yaklasim sergilediler. Sonuclar: Dunyada “part-time (yari zamanli egitim)”, ulkemizde bu adla uygulamaya koyulan program ile ayni sekilde tanimlanmamis olmakla birlikte uzun suredir uygulanmaktadir. Ulkemiz icin ise daha yeni bir uygulamadir. Ulkemizde bu haliyle yari zamanli egitim ile ilgili olumsuz bir kanaat vardir fakat bu sistemin avantaj ve dezavantajlari bu yolla uzman olan hekimlerin mesleki yeterlilikleri olculerek degerlendirilebilir.