What do assistants expect from their training?

Vascular surgery has a massive problem with recruiting new staff. Therefore the German Society for Vascular Surgery and Vascular Medicine is attempting in a recruiting campaign and in professional circles with a high level of personnel, financial and material involvement to focus its attention particularly on students because the course for later specialization is set during the study period. It is alarming that in the previous study year only 16.5% showed interest in a career in surgery. These problems for the next generation result only partly from a loss of attractiveness of the faculty as shown by an increasing number of specialists in vascular surgery over many years. The continuous high demand for vascular surgeons due to newly formed departments for vascular surgery also leads to a worsening of the new recruitment situation. For most assistants in vascular surgery the course and duration of further education are central points of criticism. In order to improve the situation the German Society for Vascular Surgery and Vascular Medicine has this year presented a structured model curriculum for the training program to become a vascular surgeon, endovascular surgeon and endovascular specialist which is intended to provide individual clinics and vascular surgery assistants with an orientation guide to create an individualized and defined curriculum.