{"id":133616,"date":"2021-11-30T14:34:37","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T13:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=133616"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:01","slug":"faculty-of-medicine-has-found-a-way-to-fix-the-extreme-foundation-programme-back-log","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2021\/11\/30\/faculty-of-medicine-has-found-a-way-to-fix-the-extreme-foundation-programme-back-log\/","title":{"rendered":"Faculty of Medicine has found a way to fix the extreme foundation programme back log"},"content":{"rendered":"

Those medical students who have had to wait for more than a year to embark on their foundation programme (hospital internship) will be able to get started sooner, after all. The department has implemented measures designed to reduce the back log, although waiting times are still longer than they were before the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pandemic placed a bomb under the organisation of the foundation programme,\u201d says Fop van Kooten, the co-ordinator of EUR\u2019s Master\u2019s programme in medicine. \u201cWaiting times for students have become longer due to the pandemic.\u201d At the start of the pandemic, Master\u2019s degree programmes in medicine ground to a halt throughout the Netherlands, and the resulting back logs are still causing problems. <\/p>\n

\u2018Very good cohort\u2019<\/h2>
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Moreover, there were relatively many students that year who were ready to embark on their foundation programme, precisely in a year during which having a large number of students for whom internship positions had to be found was rather tricky. \u201cThis is a very good cohort, so not many of them had fallen behind in their studies,\u201d says Van Kooten. \u201cIn addition, because of the pandemic, far fewer students took a gap year than usual. And there were more students from previous years who had fallen behind in their studies and more people switching to medicine from other degree programmes than in other years.\u201d So essentially, there was a bow wave that resulted in a huge back log.<\/p>\n

At the start of this academic year, students were complaining about the long waiting times for the foundation programme. Some had to wait nearly two years before being allowed to get started and were angry about it. \u201cAnd rightly so, because I\u2019d be pretty miffed too if I had to wait for ninety weeks,\u201d says Van Kooten. \u201cWe\u2019re very sorry for them. But I understand that won\u2019t help them much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the pandemic, students generally had to wait for four weeks before embarking on their foundation programme. However, this academic year, students on average have to wait for fourteen weeks. Van Kooten says that they have got rid of the worst back logs. \u201cExcept for two students, no one will have to wait for longer than a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Using next year\u2019s spots<\/h2>

Two temporary measures have allowed the department to reduce the waiting times to some extent. Students can embark on a foundation programme five times per year. Normally, 72 students are allowed to get started each time; now this number has been raised to 84. It was 84 last year, as well, but the increase now applies to this year\u2019s students and next year\u2019s, as well. \u201cAs a result, for the next three years, we\u2019ll be able to allow 420 students per year to start their foundation programme, rather than 360.\u201d <\/p>\n

In addition, the burden will be distributed: \u201cWe\u2019re basically using next year\u2019s spots. We\u2019ve assigned the places available in the first round, which we normally reserve for students who wish to start next year, to students who\u2019ve had to wait for a long time this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helping out at the hospital<\/h2>

The co-ordinator also seeks to help students who do have to wait a long time for their turn. \u201cWhile students wait for the start of their foundation programme, they can work at the hospital. Hospitals are currently establishing teams of students, where students can help out on busy days and get paid to do so, thus allowing them to learn while waiting. We also refer students to the vacancies posted by the MFVR study society. In this way we\u2019re trying to provide them with some alternatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Kooten explains that simply assigning more students to those hospital units that train foundation doctors (medical interns) would not work. Even before the pandemic, some units were a little short on people who could supervise foundation doctors. \u201cNow they\u2019re all quite busy.\u201d Moreover, hospital staff have had a rough time of it. \u201cFor instance, we send students to Brabant, to the Amphia Hospital, where the coronavirus nightmare began. We\u2019re very proud that the foundation programme can actually go ahead during this period. Staff are exhausted. If we ask them to supervise too many students, the quality of the foundation programme will eventually be affected. That\u2019s the balance we have to take into account.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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