The impact of mentoring during postgraduate training on doctors' career success.

Objectives: Although mentoring is perceived as key to a successful and satisfying career in medicine, there is a lack of methodologically sound studies to support this view. This study made use of a longitudinal design to investigate the impact of mentoring during postgraduate specialist training on the career success of doctors.

Methods: We analysed data pertaining to 326 doctors (172 women, 52.

How do physicians and their partners coordinate their careers and private lives?

Questions Under Study: Over the past few years, there has been increasing interest in the question of how couples coordinate their careers and private lives. The aim of this study was to investigate the career arrangements of physicians and their partners according to gender and parenthood status, and to compare dual-physician couples with other types of couples.

Methods: Data pertaining to 414 physicians (214 females, 51.

Family physicians in Switzerland: transition from residency to family practice.

Background And Objectives: The study is concerned with family physicians in the transition phase from residency to practice. Factors relating to the decision to take up a career in family medicine rather than a different medical career are investigated. Further, incentives and disincentives for starting a family practice as well as factors influencing the decision about practice location and practice model are addressed.

The medical profession and young physicians' lifestyles in flux: challenges for specialty training and health care delivery systems.

Questions Under Study: The profile of the medical profession is changing in terms of employment conditions, attitudes towards the profession and the lifestyle of young physicians. The aim of this study was to investigate (1) what modifications should be made in the specialty-qualification curriculum to allow for a better balance of career and personal life, (2) what institutional conditions and (3) what personal attitudes and behaviour are required for physicians to successfully combine career and family.

Methods: As part of a prospective survey on the career development of Swiss medical school graduates (SwissMedCareer Study) begun in 2001, 526 physicians (274 females, 52.

Career paths in physicians' postgraduate training - an eight-year follow-up study.

Questions Under Study: To date, there are hardly any studies on the choice of career path in medical school graduates. The present study aimed to investigate what career paths can be identified in the course of postgraduate training of physicians; what factors have an influence on the choice of a career path; and in what way the career paths are correlated with career-related factors as well as with work-life balance aspirations.

Methods: The data reported originates from five questionnaire surveys of the prospective SwissMedCareer Study, beginning in 2001 (T1, last year of medical school).

Development of life satisfaction in young physicians: results of the prospective SwissMedCareer Study.

Purpose: The objectives of the study were to investigate the gender-related development of life satisfaction in young physicians over an 8-year period of residency, to compare it with a representative sample, and to analyze the relationships between both person- and health-related factors and life satisfaction.

Methods: A prospective study was carried out including five measurement points among a cohort of 337 Swiss physicians. Measurements include domain-specific life satisfaction (FLZ(M)), sense of coherence (SOC-13), anxiety and depression (HADS-D), chronic stress (TICS) and socio-demographic variables.

Work-life conflicts and health among Swiss physicians--in comparison with other university graduates and with the general Swiss working population.

Question Under Study: The present study aimed to compare the prevalence of work-life conflicts and the health status of physicians, with a representative sample of university graduates as well as with a representative sample of the general Swiss working population. Furthermore, it aimed to analyse whether work-life conflicts correlate with the health of physicians, as it does in the general working population.

Methods: The present cross-sectional study analysed data from 2007 originating from the SwissMedCareer Study (a prospective cohort study of physicians who graduated in 2001; n = 543) and the Swiss Household Panel (a representative Swiss survey on living and working conditions; university graduates of the same age range: n = 172, general working population of the same age range: n = 670).

Mentoring programs for medical students--a review of the PubMed literature 2000-2008.

Background: Although mentoring is acknowledged as a key to successful and satisfying careers in medicine, formal mentoring programs for medical students are lacking in most countries. Within the framework of planning a mentoring program for medical students at Zurich University, an investigation was carried out into what types of programs exist, what the objectives pursued by such programs are, and what effects are reported.

Methods: A PubMed literature search was conducted for 2000 - 2008 using the following keywords or their combinations: mentoring, mentoring program, medical student, mentor, mentee, protégé, mentorship.

Distress and alexithymia in lung recipients - psychosocial strains and associations with chronic allograft dysfunction.

Questions Under Study: In recent years, distress and alexithymia have been recognised as psychosocial factors related to both somatic and psychosomatic diseases. In this study distress and alexithymia and their associations with physical parameters were investigated in lung recipients.

Methods: The study, which included 76 patients after a lung transplant, measured psychological distress (Symptom Checklist, SCL-K-9) and alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale, TAS-20).

The impact of gender and parenthood on physicians' careers--professional and personal situation seven years after graduation.

Background: The profile of the medical profession is changing in regard to feminization, attitudes towards the profession, and the lifestyle aspirations of young physicians. The issues addressed in this study are the careers of female and male physicians seven years after graduation and the impact of parenthood on career development.

Methods: Data reported originates from the fifth assessment (T5) of the prospective SwissMedCareer Study, beginning in 2001 (T1).

Chronic stress experience in young physicians: impact of person- and workplace-related factors.

Objectives: The objectives of the present study are to investigate and compare the relative impact of workplace-related factors and personal characteristics on chronic psychosocial stress experience in young physicians.

Methods: In a prospective study, a cohort of Swiss medical school graduates was followed up, beginning in 2001. In their fourth and eighth year after graduation, 443 physicians assessed their workplace conditions, the experienced effort-reward imbalance, the received professional and emotional support as well as their personal characteristics.

Lung function, sociodemographic characteristics, and psychological reaction to transplant associated with chronic stress among lung recipients.

Chronic stress is a well-known consequence of somatic diseases. In this study, we investigated whether physical, sociodemographic, or transplant-related psychological factors were associated with the patient's chronic stress level. A cross-sectional study enrolling 76 patients measured chronic stress (Screening Scale, Screening Subscale of Chronic Stress of the Trier Inventory for the Assessment of Chronic Stress) and the emotional effects of the transplant (Transplant Effects Questionnaire), as well as physical and sociodemographic conditions (lung function, bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome, working status, and parenting).

Academic career in medicine: requirements and conditions for successful advancement in Switzerland.

Background: Within the framework of a prospective cohort study of Swiss medical school graduates a sample of young physicians aspiring to an academic career were surveyed on their career support and barriers experienced up to their sixth year of postgraduate training.

Methods: Thirty-one junior academics took part in semi-structured telephone interviews in 2007. The interview guideline focused on career paths to date, career support and barriers experienced, and recommendations for junior and senior academics.

[Anxiety and depression in residents - results of a Swiss longitudinal study].

Objectives: The study investigates the development of anxiety and depression during residents' postgraduate training as well as the symptom patterns and the prediction of these patterns of impaired affectivity by personality factors. It furthermore regards the differences between these patterns in workplace- and career-related factors as well as in worklife balance.

Methods: In a prospective cohort study (2001-2007), 390 junior physicians of various specialties (54.

Psychological processing of transplantation in lung recipients: a quantitative study of organ integration and the relationship to the donor.

Objectives: Lung recipients undergo a complex psychological process, including organ integration and processing of attitudes towards the organ donor.

Design: Seventy-six lung recipients were asked to participate in a cross-sectional questionnaire study on the psychological processing of lung transplants.

Methods: The questionnaire consisted of statements describing aspects of organ integration and the patient's relationship with the donor.

[Family and career planning in young physicians].

Objectives: The study investigates in what way physicians integrate their desire to have children into their career planning.

Methods: Within the framework of a prospective cohort study of Swiss medical school graduates on career development of young physicians, beginning in 2001, 534 participants (285 women, 249 men) were assessed in January 2007, in terms of having children, planning to have children, the career aspired to and the work-family balance used or planned.

Results: Among the study participants, 19% (54) of the women and 24% (59) of the men have children.

Psychosocial profiles after transplantation: a 24-month follow-up of heart, lung, liver, kidney and allogeneic bone-marrow patients.

Objectives: Quality of life and psychosocial well-being usually improve after an organ transplant and remain stable for a minimum of several years. These findings, however, mainly apply to the "average" trend for transplant patients. This study aims to investigate whether transplant patients fall into different groups in good or poor psychosocial outcome after organ transplantation.

Career-success scale - a new instrument to assess young physicians' academic career steps.

Background: Within the framework of a prospective cohort study of Swiss medical school graduates, a Career-Success Scale (CSS) was constructed in a sample of young physicians choosing different career paths in medicine. Furthermore the influence of personality factors, the participants' personal situation, and career related factors on their career success was investigated.

Methods: 406 residents were assessed in terms of career aspired to, and their career progress.

The new generation of family physicians--career motivation, life goals and work-life balance.

Questions Under Study: The present study aimed to investigate the differences between future family physicians, and physicians aspiring to other medical specialities, in terms of sociodemographic factors and variables concerning personality factors, career motivation, career success, importance of life goals and work-life balance; further, the stability in career choice of family physicians from medical school through to residency was evaluated.

Methods: Data reported are from four assessments of the Swiss physicians' longitudinal career development study, begun in 2001 (T1). At T4, in 2007, 543 residents (76% of the initial sample at T1) completed a questionnaire concerning their personal and professional goals.

Work stress and reduced health in young physicians: prospective evidence from Swiss residents.

Objectives: Job stress, investigated by the effort-reward model in various working environments in different countries, has been widely reported, yet studies addressing physicians are lacking. The present study investigated the perceived job stress, its association with the amount of working hours, and its impact on young physicians' self-reported health and their satisfaction with life during residency.

Methods: In a prospective study design, a cohort of Swiss medical school graduates was followed up, beginning in 2001.

Family medicine in Switzerland: training experiences in medical school and residency.

Background And Objectives: A shift away from family medicine to medical specialties is noticed in many of the competition-based health care systems in Western countries. Our study's objective was to learn about career development of young physicians in German-speaking countries, with a particular focus on Switzerland.

Methods: We performed a qualitative assessment of data on physicians' training experiences in family medicine during medical school and residency.

Primary care in Switzerland--no longer attractive for young physicians?

Background And Objectives: A trend away from primary care (PC) to other specialties has been noted in Switzerland, as well as in the health-care systems of many other Western countries. The objective of the present study was to ascertain how many third-year residents graduating in 2001/02 from medical schools in German-speaking Switzerland wanted to become PC physicians (PCPs), whether this career goal was continuously followed, and how many subjects switched to or away from PC during residency.

Methods: Data reported are from the third assessment of the longitudinal Swiss physicians' career development study, begun in 2001.