Medizinischpsychologische Lehre im Zeichen der neuen Approbationsordnung für Ärzte – Ergebnisse einer Befragung von universitären medizinpsychologischen Einrichtungen

Medical Psychology within the new legislation on licensure requirements for physicians – an empirical ananlysis of the implementation process

With a new legislation on licensure requirements for physicians (ÄAppO, 2002) coming into force, German Universities have been given the task of restructuring their preclinical and clinical programs of medical studies. Since these new licensure requirements for physicians were announced, a discussion has been going on about the involved chances and risks for the psycho-social curriculum.

In a survey on behalf of the DGMP (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Medizinische Psychologie; German Society for Medical Psychology) the directors of institutes for medical psychology at German universities were asked about their experience with the implementation of the new ÄAppO.

The institutes report on advantages as well as disadvantages. Advantages are a) the improved integration of medical psychology and other psycho-social and medical subjects and b) the increased impact of mediccal psychology in the course of the study. Disadvantages are particularly a) the increased stress students and lecturers are subjected to due to the new comprehensive curriculum and b) the omission of the oral examination in medical psychology in the first part of the examination.

Implementing the new ÄAppO the institutes for medical psychology initiated various changes in their medical curriculum, nevertheless its full potential seems to be not fully tapped yet.