Fig. 3

Physicians’ evaluation of the usefulness of their academic training for diagnosing rare diseases in daily practice. Response options for the question ‘How useful was your academic medical education for diagnosing rare diseases in daily practice?’. Full response options: very useful, I’m sure of myself when encountering rare diseases; sufficiently, I have got sufficient knowledge and training to diagnose rare disease patients; moderate, my academic medical training did not prepare me perfectly regarding rare disease diagnosis; insufficiently, I’d rather refer the patient to another specialist-doctor; not useful at all, the academic medical training did not prepare me concerning rare diseases. Statistical analysis was performed with Mantel-Haenszel Chi² Test: *, significant different distribution of responses (p ≤ 0.001) from this physician group compared to those from all other physician groups. PED = pediatrician. SP adult = specialists treating adults (endocrinologists and neurologists). SP child = specialists treating children (pediatric endocrinologists and neurologists)