Defining competence profiles of different medical specialties with the requirement-tracking questionnaire – a pilot study to provide a framework for medial students’ choice of postgraduate training

Abstract

Background The medical specialties are characterised by a great diversity in their daily work which requires different sets of competences. A requirement analysis would help to establish competence profiles of the different medical specialities. The aim of this pilot study was to define competence profiles for individual medical specialties. This could provide a framework as support for medical graduates who wish to choose a medical specialty for their postgraduate training. Methods In February 2020, physicians were invited via the State Chamber of Physicians’ monthly journal to electronically fill out the requirement tracking (R-Track) questionnaire. It contains 63 aspects assigned to six areas of competence: “Mental abilities”, “Sensory abilities”, “Psychomotor and multitasking abilities”, “Social interactive competences”, “Motivation”, and “Personality traits”. The expression of the different aspects was assessed on a 5-point Likert scale (1: “very low” to 5: “very high”). Sociodemographic data and information about the current workplace (hospital or practice) were also collected. Results In total, 195 practicing physicians from 19 different specialities followed the invitation by the State Chamber of Physicians to participate in this survey. For almost all medical specialties, the competence area “Motivation” reached rank 1. “Psychomotor and multitasking abilities” received high ranks among specialties performing surgical activities, while “Social interactive competences” and “Personality traits” were highly rated by specialties with an intense level of patient-physician-interaction. “Mental abilities” were only rated highly by radiologists (rank 2) and physiologists (rank 3) while “Sensory abilities” were generally rated very low with the expression (rank 4) for anaesthesiology and ENT. Conclusions In this pilot study, a first outline of competences profiles for 17 medical specialties were defined. The specific “Motivation” for a medical specialty seemed to play the greatest role for most specialties. This first specialty specific competence framework could provide a first insight into specific competences required by medical specialties and could serve medical graduate as a decision aid when looking for a medical specialty for their postgraduate training.

Final-year medical students’ competence profiles according to the modified requirement tracking questionnaire

“…Questionnaires for job requirements should be able to differentiate between different occupations. Previous studies with the R-Track questionnaire revealed differences between medical specialties [ 17 , 20 ], which were in line with the expected differences. For this study, we adapted the R-Track questionnaire to be used for self-assessment of the respective competence facets (Supplement 1 ).…”

“…Students who wish to choose paediatrics rated “Sensory abilities” lowest, whereas students who want to choose anaesthesiology or internal medicine rated “Psychomotor & multitasking abilities” lowest. Comparing medical students’ competence profiles with the competence profiles defined by physicians working in these three specialties [ 20 ], the competence profiles showed 100 % congruence for internal medicine, 33.3 % for paediatrics, and 0 % for anaesthesiology (Table 1 ). The differences between the highest, and lowest mean of the six competence areas within each group were 0.53 (students) versus 0.98 (physicians) for internal medicine, 0.43 (students) versus 0.93 (physicians) for paediatrics, and 0.66 (students), and 0.75 (physicians) for anaesthesiology.…”

“…A high level of motivation was found to be necessary to successfully complete undergraduate medical training and become a physician [ 39 , 40 ]. Furthermore, the competence area “Motivation” also achieved the highest rank by physicians from different medical specialties – irrespective of the specific specialty – as the most important requirement for their daily work [ 20 ]. Being motivated for medical learning itself and being interested in a specific specialty seem to be very crucial aspects for the choice of any specialty for postgraduate training.…”

“…Differences were considered significant for p-values < 0.05. For comparison of participating students’ profiles with physician’s profiles from the medical specialties students wished to choose for postgraduate training, results from a previous R-track study with practicing physicians were used [ 20 ].…”

“…Within the internal medicine subspecialty of nephrology, we found different competence profiles for hospital-based nephrologist and nephrologists working in private practice [ 19 ]. In a pilot study, we defined competence profiles for 17 different medical specialties [ 20 ].…”