‘The next step’ – alumni students' views on their preparation for their first position as a physician

BACKGROUND: Although medical programmes are often thoroughly evaluated, these evaluations more seldom include workplace points of view. The present study focuses on how well a Swedish medical programme was judged to prepare students for work as a physician. METHODS: Thirty-two competences in physicians' work were identified through interviews. A subsequent questionnaire was completed by 123 programme alumni who had worked for 1–2½ years in different parts of the country. Alumni were asked to rate the importance of each competence, their self-assessed competence as well as how these competences were addressed during their medical training. RESULTS: The subsequent analysis identified areas where their training programme, according to the alumni, failed to prepare them satisfactorily. Problem areas included competences in clinical skills, handling stressful situations and in applied rather than foundational knowledge about common symptoms and diseases. CONCLUSION: Despite extensive practical training, medical education still faces some problems in the transition from education to work.