The choice of medical residency is largely influenced by experiences obtained during medical school. Between 06 and 11 / 2022, the YoungDGP (DGP, German Society of Pneumology) surveyed final-year medical students (MS) as well as chief physicians (CP) about their perspectives on respiratory education at universities in Germany. 

A total of 279 MS (median age 26 years, 35 % male; 37 / 39 german medical faculties represented) and 53 CP completed the surveys. 9 % MS were considering residency in pneumology. 62% of MS and 81% of CP felt that education in pneumology was underrepresented compared to other fields of internal medicine (Fig. 1A and B). In the students' perspective, intensive care, overlap with other disciplines and interventional therapies were seen as the most attractive aspects of pneumology (Fig. 1C) whilst intensive care, mechanical ventilation and thoracic imaging were scored as the most interesting respiratory topics during education. 91 % of the MS would have liked to be taught pneumology in a more practically oriented manner. CPs scored the difficulty of recruiting junior physicians into a residency in pneumology at a mean of 75% (scale from 0 to 100 %).

These surveys provide guidance on how to improve respiratory education. The implementation of a more practically oriented curriculum seems essential to foster the recruitment of junior physicians into the field of pneumology.