Why should I do research?

Less and less clinically active physicians in Germany are becoming involved in research. The professional job description of physicians and the career options of younger medical doctors have been modified in parallel to the social and structural alterations over the last two decades. In the Federal Republic of Germany as well as in neighboring European countries many new career options have developed and traditional career paths have become unattractive to the same extent, in particular for financial reasons. Routine clinical duties of physicians are considered to be increasingly stressful and family unfriendly. In contrast there are no established training and career programs for parallel paths in scientific and clinical further education. Postgraduate medical doctors are becoming increasingly more oriented to professions outside patient care or emigrate to other countries. Particularly obvious is the lack of new recruits in university hospitals, where it is becoming increasingly more difficult to recruit young medical doctors for scientific activities in addition to clinical duties. Furthermore there is still a need for academically active doctors. This need and improvements with respect to research structures and clinical training can, however, be considered convincing arguments from various perspectives for an academic medical career.