[Surgery as specialization for female physicians: Results from course evaluations and alumni studies at MHH]. / Chirurgie als Weiterbildungsfach für Ärztinnen : Ergebnisse von Lehrevaluationen und Absolventenstudien an der MHH.

BACKGROUND: There is a lack of young surgeons in Germany. In order to provide a successful learning environment in medical education and to attract more physicians, training concepts need to be regularly controlled. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Evaluation results compiled over several years from the Hanover Medical School (MHH) were analyzed for gender-related differences. In addition to overall satisfaction with practical training items were included that consider aspects of interaction between students and instructors. Furthermore, alumni studies provided data on the postgraduate specialty choice made by MHH students. OBJECTIVES: Surgical training is integrated into medical education as block training periods of various durations. Against the background of an increased percentage of women in medicine this article analyzed whether surgery is evaluated differently between female and male medical students with respect to their experiences in clinical teaching. RESULTS: Evaluations of clinical training in surgery demonstrated that female and male medical students do not differ substantially with respect to the teaching quality; however, young female physicians choose surgery as a professional option less frequently than men. CONCLUSION: A systematic review of clinical training evaluations is crucial to identify weaknesses of current curricula. More empirical data from other faculties can induce discussions about the attractiveness of surgery as a profession.

[The German academic degree "Dr. med." is better than its reputation. Results of a questionnaire of doctoral students]. / Die Promotion in der Medizin ist besser als ihr Ruf. Ergebnisse einer Befragung von Doktoranden.

BACKGROUND: Recently there were mostly emotional debates about the scientific background and relevance of the German academic title "Dr. med.", while objective data are scarce. METHODS: When submitting their doctoral thesis at the Medical School of Hannover students were asked anonymously about the type, topic, duration, quality of supervision as well as frequency and type of publication of the results. RESULTS: 180 doctoral candidates (62% women) participated in the study. The supervision was graded as good by the majority of students. The duration working on the thesis was equivalent to 47 weeks of a full time employment. There was some negative influence in participating in lectures and courses. Nearly all participants (98%) would recommend younger students to work on a dissertation as they had done themselves in parallel to the curriculum. The ability of how to interprete scientific data was assumed to be positively influenced. About two thirds stated that the results had been published in original articles at the time of submitting the thesis. CONCLUSIONS: More data from other medical faculties are needed to document the relevance of the medical dissertation to replace the emotional by a more rational debate.