A survey on the knowledge and attitude to interdisciplinary-based medical postgraduate training among medical graduate students and tutors

Objective To investigate the current status of interdisciplinary medical postgraduate training, and medical graduate students and tutors' knowledge about and attitude to interdisciplinary-based medical postgraduate training. Methods Using convenient sampling method, an online questionnaire survey was conducted among 430 graduate students and 97 tutors from Peking University Health Science Center to investigate their experience of cooperation with other disciplines, as well as their views on the interdisciplinary-based postgraduate training and suggestions on the improvement of the training model. Results The results showed that 47.0% (202/430) of graduate students and 84.5% (82/97) of tutors reported having the cooperation experience with other disciplines. 98.8% (425/430) of graduate students and 99.0% (96/97) of tutors recognized the benefits of interdisciplinary to medical postgraduate training, including broadening students' knowledge and perspective, sharing resources, improving research methods, and the discovery of scientific problems. The proportion of having a corresponding experience showed that 53.9% (284/527) was much higher than that of expecting interdisciplinary cooperation [98.9% (521/527)] among participants. The first three factors restricting the training reported by the graduate students and tutors were lack of platforms for cooperation and exchange 65.6% (282/430), 71.1% (69/97), imperfect training system 63.3% (272/430), 71.1% (69/97) and insufficient awareness of interdisciplinary-based training 55.8% (240/430), 52.6% (51/97). Conclusions The benefits of interdisciplinary in medical postgraduate training has been widely recognized by students and tutors. However, improving systems and platforms for multi-disciplinary cooperation, and strengthening the interdisciplinary education concept are still needed to promote interdisciplinary integration and medical innovative talents training. Key words: Interdisciplinary; Medical postgraduate training; Survey