Strategies for rural areas: The development of and initial experiences with a training course for physicians from third countries to prepare them for medical practice in Germany

Aim: In Germany there is an increasing shortage of physicians, especially in rural areas. Strategies that make use of medical doctors from non-EU member states could effectively counteract this problem more rapidly than other strategies, including those that focus on education. Physicians from third countries must first demonstrate evidence of their professional qualifications on an exam. The failure rate in Schleswig-Holstein is approximately 50%. The specific aim of the 80-hour training course is to prepare third-country physicians for the practice of medicine in Germany and to provide exposure to the rural setting, regardless of whether or not these physicians have already taken an exam to receive formal recognition of their professional qualifications. Method: The need for post-licensure training courses was discerned in interviews with third-country physicians and examiners. The course was also evaluated using different instruments and then revised accordingly. Results: The training program has been held four times with a total of 52 third-country physicians; the program was given the very good rating of 1.4 on the traditional German academic grading scale. In addition to the 10-day training course, the participants had access to an online medical learning platform. Moreover, information on working in rural setting and a field trip to a variety of medical institutions in a rural region was integrated into the course. The majority of the participants used the course as additional preparation for the exam. Their willingness to later practice medicine in a rural setting was high with 89% of participants. Conclusion: The evaluation results suggest that such an intensive training program is suitable to prepare third-country physicians for medical practice in Germany and in particular in rural regions.