Heun Xenia, Eisenlöffel Christian, Barann Bastian, Müller-Hilke Brigitte
University Medicine Rostock, Institute for Immunology, Rostock, Germany.
University Medicine Leipzig, Division for Neuropathology, Leipzig, Germany.
GMS Z Med Ausbild. 2014 Aug 15;31(3):Doc30. doi: 10.3205/zma000922. eCollection 2014.
To obtain the German Medical Degree "Dr.med." candidates are required to write a scientific thesis which is usually accomplished during Medical school education. This extra work load for the students amongst a lack of standardization and an M.D. awarded upon graduation in other European and Anglo-Saxon countries leads repeatedly to criticism of the German system. However, a systematic survey on the perception and acceptance of the German doctoral thesis among those affected is overdue.
Using an online questionnaire, medical students as well as licensed doctors were asked for the status of their medical degree, their motivation, personal benefit, time and effort, scientific output, its meaningfulness and alternatives concerning their thesis. Patients were asked, how important they value their general practitioner's title "Dr. med.". The resulting data were evaluated performing basic statistic analyses.
The title "Dr. med." does not seem to be obsolete, but there is room for improvement. The scientific output is good and only a mere 15.1% of the candidates do not publish their results at all. Moreover, while at an early stage motivation, appreciation and recognition of personal benefits from the medical degree are considered as independent aspects, they merge to a general view at later stages. The current practice is considered most meaningful by the ones who have already finished their thesis. However, there are discrepancies between the expected and the actual length as well as the type of the thesis indicating that mentoring and educational advertising need improvement. As for the patients, their educational level seems to correlate with the significance attributed to the title "Dr. med." held by their physician.
为获得德国医学学位“医学博士”，候选人需要撰写一篇科学论文，这通常是在医学院教育期间完成的。在缺乏标准化的情况下，学生的这项额外工作量以及在其他欧洲和盎格鲁-撒克逊国家毕业时授予的医学博士学位，屡屡引发对德国体系的批评。然而，对受影响者对德国博士论文的认知和接受情况进行系统调查早就该进行了。
通过在线问卷，询问医学生以及执业医生他们的医学学位状况、动机、个人收益、时间和精力、科研成果、论文的意义以及关于论文的替代方案。还询问了患者，他们认为其全科医生的“医学博士”头衔有多重要。对所得数据进行基本统计分析。
“医学博士”头衔似乎并未过时，但仍有改进空间。科研成果良好，只有15.1%的候选人完全没有发表他们的研究结果。此外，虽然在早期阶段，动机、对医学学位个人收益的认可和重视被视为独立的方面，但在后期它们会融合为一种总体看法。已经完成论文的人认为当前的做法最有意义。然而，在论文的预期长度和实际长度以及类型之间存在差异，这表明指导和教育宣传需要改进。至于患者，他们的教育水平似乎与他们对医生“医学博士”头衔重要性的认知相关。
