Why do trainees leave hospital-based specialty training? A nationwide survey study investigating factors involved in attrition and subsequent career choices in the Netherlands.

Objective: To gain insight into factors involved in attrition from hospital-based medical specialty training and future career plans of trainees who prematurely left their specialty training programme.

Design: Nationwide online survey study.

Setting: Postgraduate education of all hospital-based specialties in the Netherlands.

Encouraging residents' professional development and career planning: the role of a development-oriented performance assessment.

Background: Current postgraduate medical training programmes fall short regarding residents' development of generic competencies (communication, collaboration, leadership, professionalism) and reflective and deliberate practice. Paying attention to these non-technical skills in a structural manner during postgraduate training could result in a workforce better prepared for practice. A development-oriented performance assessment (PA), which assists residents with assessment of performance and deliberately planned learning activities, could potentially contribute to filling this gap.

D-dimer testing in patients with suspected pulmonary embolism and impaired renal function.

Background: Determination of pretest probability and D-dimer tests are the first diagnostic steps in patients with suspected pulmonary embolism, which can be ruled out when clinical probability is unlikely and D-dimer level is normal. We evaluated the utility of D-dimer testing in patients with impaired renal function.

Methods: D-dimer tests were performed in consecutive patients with suspected pulmonary embolism and an unlikely clinical probability.