BMC medical education
Workload demands, surgical education and training among resident surgeons in Germany: a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study
By Schmidt HC, Le M, Sennert M and 7 others.
Abstract
Background
The medical system is experiencing increasing systemic workload pressures and a developing shortage of doctors, making the well-being of resident surgeons a critical factor for sustainable healthcare delivery. By highlighting the surgical residents' perspectives through a direct questionnaire, the current study aimed to provide an exploratory basis for discussing reform possibilities that better support current and future demands on surgeons.
Methods
This cross-sectional study used a custom-developed questionnaire to collect data from resident surgeons across multiple surgical specialties, predominantly at university hospitals in Germany. It was designed to assess the quality of resident surgeons' training experiences and gauge their perceptions of their career progression and workload distribution. Furthermore, the questionnaire assessed emotional well-being, workload demands, training sufficiency, satisfaction with career progression, and the allocation of time between administrative and patient care tasks. Data collection was conducted through an anonymous online questionnaire platform.