Across Europe, postgraduate medical training is undergoing profound transformation due to workforce shortages, evolving competencies, and increasing healthcare demand. From the perspective of junior physicians, three interconnected structural challenges threaten the sustainability of medical training systems: the demographic crisis of the medical workforce and its supervision consequences, persistent non-compliance with the European Working Time Directive (EWTD), and the growing prevalence of burnout among junior doctors. Evidence from Spain illustrates how outdated training structures, excessive working hours, and insufficient supervision can compromise both learning and physician well-being. This commentary reflects on these issues and argues that workforce and training planning, ensuring compliance with working time regulations, and prioritising physician well-being are essential to safeguard the future of the European medical workforce. Entrusted Professional Activities (EPAs) and the European Training Requirements proposals (ETRs), emerges as a critical opportunity of ensuring clinical supervision, patient safety and physicians wellbeing.
Download and Read the full article here: