Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital Muenster, Muenster, Germany.
Department of Radiation Oncology and Cyberknife Center, University Hospital of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
Strahlenther Onkol. 2020 Aug;196(8):699-704. doi: 10.1007/s00066-020-01623-x. Epub 2020 May 4.
Medical students' knowledge of radiation oncology (RO) is of increasing importance with a rising prevalence of malignancies. However, RO teaching in medical schools is heterogeneous and has not been analyzed at a federal level yet. Therefore, the following survey aims to provide a national overview of RO teaching in Germany.
A questionnaire containing multiple-choice and free-text questions covering the extent and topics of RO teaching was sent to RO departments of all university hospitals in Germany and was answered by the heads of department/main lecturers.
24/35 (68.6%) RO departments returned completed forms. Most faculties employ lectures (91.7%), seminars (87.5%), and practical/bedside training (75.0%), whereas training in radiation biology and medical physics are rare (25% and 33.3%, respectively). Main topics covered are general RO (100%), radiation biology (91.7%), and side effects (87.5%). Regarding RO techniques and concepts, image-guided and intensity-modulated radiotherapy are taught at all faculties, followed by palliative and stereotactic techniques (87.5% each). Notably, all departments offered at least a partial rotation in RO in conjunction with radiology and/or nuclear medicine departments in the last year of medical school, while only 70.8% provided a complete rotation in RO. In addition, 57.1% of the departments have taken measures concerning the upcoming National Competence-Based Learning Objectives Catalogue (NKLM) for medical education.
RO plays an integral but underrepresented role in clinical medical education in Germany, but faces new challenges in the development of practical and competence-based education, which will require further innovative and interdisciplinary concepts.
随着恶性肿瘤发病率的上升，医学生对放射肿瘤学（RO）的了解变得越来越重要。然而，医学院的 RO 教学存在差异，尚未在联邦层面进行分析。因此，本次调查旨在提供德国 RO 教学的国家概况。
向德国所有大学医院的 RO 部门发送了一份包含多选题和自由文本题的问卷，涵盖 RO 教学的范围和主题，由部门主管/首席讲师回答。
24/35（68.6%）RO 部门返回了填写完整的表格。大多数学院都采用讲座（91.7%）、研讨会（87.5%）和实践/床边培训（75.0%），而辐射生物学和医学物理学的培训则很少（分别为 25%和 33.3%）。涵盖的主要主题包括一般 RO（100%）、辐射生物学（91.7%）和副作用（87.5%）。关于 RO 技术和概念，图像引导和强度调制放疗在所有学院都有教授，其次是姑息治疗和立体定向技术（各 87.5%）。值得注意的是，所有部门在医学生的最后一年都与放射科和/或核医学部门一起提供 RO 的部分轮转，而只有 70.8%提供完整的 RO 轮转。此外，57.1%的部门已经针对即将出台的国家基于能力的医学教育学习目标目录（NKLM）采取了措施。
RO 在德国临床医学教育中扮演着不可或缺但代表性不足的角色，但在实践和能力本位教育的发展上面临新的挑战，这将需要进一步的创新和跨学科概念。
