Vereinbarkeit von forschung und facharztweiterbildung in der allgemeinmedizin: Probleme und lösungsansätze

Background: The academic development of family medicine plays an important role for its professionalisation in Germany. An important aspect of development is the promotion of young academic family practitioners (FPs). However, young FPs in clinical training who also perform research and teaching are confronted with many difficulties. The aim of this article is to discuss combining training and research in family medicine in Germany and to suggest possible solutions and future steps. Methods: During the national congress of the German College of General Practitioners and Family Physicians (DEGAM) in Rostock 2012, we conducted a workshop on the combination of clinical training with research and teaching. In three moderated discussion rounds we talked about problems, already existing best-practice solutions and necessary steps for the future. The results were collected on pin-boards. Results: Important problems in combining research and teaching with clinical training are: the availability of integrating research and training, work-life-balance, payment and appraisal by colleagues. Advantages of combining research and clinical training are synergies between both and a higher flexibility. Already existing best-practice solutions are mainly vocational training rotation programs offered by university departments of family medicine. Necessary steps for the future are standardizations of opportunities to integrate research into clinical training, equal payment and networking between university departments and clinical trainers. Conclusions: The combination of research and training is a challenge. Different steps to improve the combination of both should be further promoted.