[The status of postgraduate education in the area of surgery--results of a survey of the North-Rhine Physicians Group and the Bavarian Regional Physicians Group in cooperation with the German Society of Surgery].

Although in Germany most of the medical procedures have to be documented, there are almost no data available focusing on postgraduate training, especially in surgery. A retrospective analysis from 1 Jan to 31 Dec 1995 by the Chamber of Physicians in Nordrhein (AeK No) and the Bavarian (BLAEK) Chamber of Physicians revealed their surgical department's share of postgraduate trainees to be 59.2% and 63.6%, respectively. Operations per surgeon numbered approximately 220 p.a. (AeK No) and approximately 200 p.a. (BLAEK); mean hospital stay of patient equalled 10.3 d (AeK No) and 9.9 d (BLAEK). Especially in AeK No, there was an interesting follow-up when comparing 1985 with 1995; there was a decrease in the number of beds in the hospitals, a decrease of the length of patients' hospital stay, and an increase in the number of operations performed; there was an increasing number of surgeons per department, with a moderate increase of surgeons with postgraduate training completed.