Re-entry residency training: opportunities and obstacles.

Objective: To identify and quantify the reasons general practitioners and family physicians consider retraining and their reasons for not pursuing further training.

Design: Population-based mailed survey.

Setting: British Columbia.

Participants: Family physicians and general practitioners identified by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia.

Main Outcome Measures: Practising physicians' level of awareness of the University of British Columbia's re-entry training program, the number and demographic characteristics of those who had considered retraining, their specialties of interest, and the barriers and possible inducements to retraining.

Results: Only half of the survey respondents were aware of the re-entry training program at the University of British Columbia. A small but substantial number of practising general practitioners and family physicians were interested in taking specialty training from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. While several training programs were particularly popular (ie, anesthesia and psychiatry--18.5% of respondents for each), almost every specialty training program was mentioned. Physicians identified the length and hours of training, financial issues, family issues, and the need for relocation as obstacles to retraining. The availability of part-time training, regional training, and return-of-service financial assistance were all identified as potential inducements.

Conclusion: To meet the needs of practising physicians, re-entry training programs will need to consider flexibility, where feasible, with regard to choice of specialty, intensity, and location of postgraduate training.