Objective To provide scientific evidence for the establishment of medical specialist system in China by investigating the history, current situation, problems and countermeasures of medical specialties training at home and aboard. Method The principle and theroy of evidence-based medicine were adopted. The information before Dec. 31, 2003 of Pubmed, CBM, official website, some journals, most frequently used search engines and medical monograph were systematically reviewed. Included literatures were assessed and graded according to the pre-defined criterias. Results A total of 1 319 studies (1 298 in English, 21 in Chinese) were included, among which only 6 were related to the classification of medical specialties. Based on the information from official website of USA, Canada, UK, Singapore, Australia and China (including HK and Taiwan), it showed that China has the largest number of medical specialties, followed by that of USA. In China, the number of medical specialties has more than that of the disciplines in clinical field, which was followed by resident training programs. Some specialties were duplicate, or not international standardized. Conclusions The classification of medical specialties should be developed consecutively, which comprehensively considered the international trend, characteristics of doctor training and the current situation. Specialties whose training program are well-established and developed should initiate firstly. Others will be put into practice gradually after being fully exprienced.
Objective To provide evidence for establishing medical specialist training system in China by evidence-based evaluation on the comparison of medical specialists training programs in different countries in Europe, America and Asia. Methods The principle and method of evidence-based science were adopted. Pubmed, official website (such as Ministry of Health, and medical board), homepages of famous medical universities or teaching hospitals and most frequently used search engines were systematically searched till Mar. 31, 2004. Included literatures were evaluated according to pre-defined standards. Results A total of 878 studies (827 in English, 51 in other languages) were included. The main contents covered clinical courses (43.3%), training quality assessment (13.5%) and existing problems (12.7%). Based on these and information from official website, the process of doctor training could be divided into three stages: residency training, specialist training and continuing medical education, with the characteristics of critical standards and strict examination in each stage. Training programs for neurosurgeon and family practitioner were analyzed. Conclusions Medical specialists training is a systematic project, which needs comprechensive planning and taking all factors (such as requirement of medical care market, diseaseburden) into account . To establishing a connterpart in China, priority should be given to training quality, feasibility and improvability. At the same time, we should change our mind, face the reality, and deal with problems during the interim.