Training in infectious diseases across Europe in 2021 - a survey on training delivery, content and assessment.

OBJECTIVES To define the status of Infectious Diseases (ID) as an approved specialty in Europe; to enumerate the number of specialists (in general and in relation to the overall population) and specialist trainees and describe the content, delivery, and evaluation of postgraduate training in ID in different countries. METHODS Structured web-based questionnaire surveys in March 2021 of responsible national authorities, specialist societies and individual country representatives to the Section of Infectious Diseases of the European Union for Medical Specialties. Descriptive analysis of quantitative and qualitative responses. RESULTS In responses received from 33/35 (94.3%) countries, ID is recognised as a specialty in 24 and as a subspecialty of general internal medicine (GIM) in 8, but it is not recognised in Spain. The number of ID specialists per country varies from <5 per million inhabitants to 78 per million. Median length of training is 5 (IQR 4.0 - 6.0) years with variable amounts of preceding and/or concurrent GIM. Only 21.2% of countries (7/33) provide the minimum recommended training of 6 months in microbiology and 30% cover competencies such as palliative care, team working and leadership, audit, and quality control. Training is monitored by personal logbook or e-portfolio in 75% (25/33) and assessed by final exams in 69.7% (23/33) of countries, but yearly reviews with trainees only occur in 54.5% (18/33) of countries. CONCLUSIONS There are substantial gaps in modernisation of ID training in many countries to match current European Training Requirements. Joint training with clinical microbiology and in multidisciplinary team working should be extended. Training/monitoring trainers should find greater focus, together with regular feedback to trainees within many national training programmes.