Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Aug;196(8):699-704.
doi: 10.1007/s00066-020-01623-x. Epub 2020 May 4.

Quality of teaching radiation oncology in Germany-where do we stand? : Results from a 2019 survey performed by the working group "young DEGRO" of the German Society of Radiation Oncology

M Oertel  1 , P Linde  2 , M Mäurer  3 , D F Fleischmann  4   5   6 , C T Dietzel  7 , D Krug  8
Affiliations

Quality of teaching radiation oncology in Germany-where do we stand? : Results from a 2019 survey performed by the working group "young DEGRO" of the German Society of Radiation Oncology

M Oertel et al. Strahlenther Onkol. 2020 Aug.

Abstract

Purpose: 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.

Methods: 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.

Results: 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.

Conclusion: 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.

Keywords: NKLM; competence-based learning; innovative teaching; medical education; radiooncology teaching.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

M. Oertel, P. Linde, M. Mäurer, D.F. Fleischmann, and C.T. Dietzel declare that they have no competing interests. D. Krug has received honoraria from Merck Sharp & Dome, outside of the submitted work.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Responses to the question “During which semesters does radiation oncology teaching take place?” Multiple answers were allowed
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Responses to the question “Which topics are addressed during radiation oncology teaching?” Multiple answers were allowed
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Responses to the question “Which techniques and concepts are included in radiation oncology teaching?” Multiple answers were allowed
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Robert Koch-Institut (2017) Krebs in Deutschland für 2013/2014. RKI-Bib1 Robert Koch-Inst. 10.17886/rkipubl-2017-007. Accessed 21 Jan 2020
    1. Deutsche Krebshilfe . Strahlentherapie. Bonn: Deutsche Krebshilfe; 2019.
    1. Barton MB, Jacob S, Shafiq J, et al. Estimating the demand for radiotherapy from the evidence: a review of changes from 2003 to 2012. Radiother Oncol. 2014;112:140–144. doi: 10.1016/j.radonc.2014.03.024. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zaorsky NG, Shaikh T, Handorf E, et al. What are medical students in the United States learning about radiation oncology? Results of a multi-institutional survey. Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 2016;94:235–242. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2015.10.008. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Oertel M, Schmitz M, Becker JC, et al. Successful integration of radiation oncology in preclinical medical education. Strahlenther Onkol. 2019 doi: 10.1007/s00066-019-01492-z. - DOI - PubMed