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Medizinische Dissertation: Wie unterscheiden sich erfolgreiche von abgebrochenen Forschungsprojekten?
Abstract
Hintergrund und Fragestellung: Es gibt bis heute keine Unter- suchungen an einer medizinischen Fakultät zum Vergleich zwi- schen erfolgreich und erfolglos verlaufenden Promotionsvorha- ben. Die Feststellung von Unterschieden zwischen erfolgreichen und erfolglosen Dissertationen war deshalb Ziel dieser Studie. Probanden und Methodik: Es wurden alle Medizinstudenten des 11. bis 14. Fachsemesters der Charité (n = 1036; 560 Frauen (54,1%) und 476 Männer (45,9%)) per Fragebogen zu Ihrer Pro- motionssituation befragt. Beschrieben werden konnte das mo- mentane und bis zu zwei abgebrochene Promotionsvorhaben. Die eingehenden Bögen wurden in "erfolgreiche" und "abgebro- chene" Promotionen klassifiziert. Ergebnisse: Insgesamt beantworteten 324 Studenten den Fra- gebogen zur Promotionssituation und beschrieben 348 Promo- tionsvorhaben an der Charité (Rücklaufquote 31%). Unter diesen wurden 72 erfolgreiche und 65 abgebrochene Arbeiten identifi- ziert. Die erfolgreichen Arbeiten wurden signifikant besser be- treut (Betreuer mit ausreichend Zeit (64% vs. 29%), gute Hilfe des Betreuers (57% vs. 9%)). Die Planung der erfolgreichen Ar- beiten war ebenfalls signifikant überlegen (eingehaltene Zu sa- gen (42% vs. 5%), finanzielle Unterstützung (39% vs. 8%)). Bei den erfolgreichen Arbeiten gab es außerdem signifikant häufi- ger ein Bemühen um den Studenten als zukünftigen For- schungspartner (50% vs. 17%). Folgerung: Erfolgreiche Promotionen werden deutlich besser betreut und vorbereitet. Um die Erfolgschancen einer Promoti- on zu verbessern, muss eine bessere Planung und Supervision erzielt werden. Des Weiteren sind eine finanzielle Unterstüt- zung und eine gute Vorbereitung der Promovenden auf wissen- schaftliches Arbeiten, z.B. durch spezielle Kurse, wichtige För- derungsinstrumente.
... In the same year (2007), 6108 medical students completed their dissertation successfully, which is a rate of 47% [7]. Studies performed in the 1990s revealed that 17% of medical students had no intention of conducting a dissertation project during their undergraduate training [8], [9], and studies from three individual universities showed that 10–21% of all students abandoned at least one research project [4], [10], [11]. The reasons why some dissertations are successfully completed and why some are abandoned, and why there is a specific format for a structured scientific research project in general, are varied and have not been thoroughly analyzed thus far. ...
... The new German Federal Medical Licensing Regulation from 2002 [13] does not require any courses for preparing a dissertation during medical undergraduate training. One study showed that 76% of the students assessed the preparation for scientific research at medical school as poor or nonexistent, while only 3% evaluated the preparation as good [11]. The students also mentioned poor supervision, methodological problems, difficulties with the topic, personal problems, or a lack of time and finances as reasons for abandoning a dissertation. ...
... The students also mentioned poor supervision, methodological problems, difficulties with the topic, personal problems, or a lack of time and finances as reasons for abandoning a dissertation. 86% of doctoral candidates held poor supervision responsible for giving up on their dissertation project [11]. At the University of Würzburg, Germany, students still working on their dissertation assessed the supervision as hardly satisfying [14]. ...
Objective: In order to acquire the academic title “doctor” in Germany, it is essential to complete a dissertation. A high number of publications at German universities are based on medical dissertations. The reasons why some dissertations are successfully accomplished and why some are not completed – despite far-reaching consequences – have been barely investigated to date.
Methods: 467 students in the ninth semester at five German universities participated in this study in 2003. A questionnaire (return rate 93.5%) was used, asking details about the circumstances of a current or completed dissertation (Group A), an abandoned doctoral project (Group B), or one which was never started (Group C).
Results: Students in Group A referred significantly more often to their supervisor as being essential for choosing the topic of their dissertation project. Furthermore, students in Group A worked together with other students in self-organized support groups to debate methodological questions. They also discussed their project more frequently with a statistician. Students in Group C gave “interference with undergraduate studies” and “no time” as the most common reasons for not starting a dissertation.
Conclusions: As the supervisor seems to play an important role for the successful completion of dissertations, universities should think about professional programs that would prepare supervisors for this educational task. Courses for doctoral candidates in scientific research methodology could also be a helpful tool toward successfully accomplishing a doctoral thesis or scientific projects in general.
... The graduate programme was established at the Charité in 2002 as a direct consequence of the general picture that had emerged from our first survey among medical doctoral candidates in 2001, namely that candidates in general considered medical thesis supervision to be inadequate and that the university did not prepare them adequately for doing research. 16 This voluntary programme offers courses taught by students to assist doctoral candidates in planning and organising dissertation projects and to provide fundamental methodological knowledge such as statistics. This survey included different question types, such as multiple choice, numerical or text input, and took on average 35 min to complete. ...
... Some of the deficits thesis supervisors report about in their doctoral candidates are surprising since, following the results of the first survey in 2001, 16 the Charité graduate programme was specifically initiated and established at the Charité to fill this gap. Initiatives illustrating that the deficits of the system have been recognised also exist at other German medical schools, and similar experiences have been reported. ...
Objectives
To identify underlying causes for failure of medical thesis projects and the constantly high drop-out rate in Germany from the supervisors' perspective and to compare the results with the students' perspective.
Setting
Cross-sectional survey. Online questionnaire for survey of medical thesis supervisors among the staff of Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany. Published, earlier longitudinal survey among students for comparison.
Participants
1069 thesis supervisors participated.
Data extraction and synthesis
Data are presented using descriptive statistics, and the χ² test served to compare the results among supervisors with the earlier data from the longitudinal survey of doctoral students.
Primary and secondary outcomes
Not applicable. This survey is an observational study.
Results
Of 3653 potential participants, 1069 (29.3%) supervising 3744 doctoral candidates participated in the study. Supervisors considered themselves to be highly motivated and to offer adequate supervision. On the other hand, 87% stated that they did not feel well prepared for thesis supervision. Supervisors gave lack of timeliness of doctoral students and personal differences (p=0.024 and p=0.001) as the main reasons for terminating thesis projects. Doctoral students predominantly mentioned methodological problems and difficult subjects as critical issues (p=0.001 and p<0.001). Specifically, students felt ill prepared for the statistical part of their research—49.5% stated that they never received statistical assistance, whereas 97% of supervisors claimed to help their students with statistical analysis.
Conclusions
The authors found that both thesis supervisors and medical students feel ill prepared for their roles in the process of a medical dissertation. Contradictory reasons for terminating medical thesis projects based on supervisors' and students' self-assessment suggest a lack of communication and true scientific collaboration between supervisors and doctoral students as the major underlying issue that requires resolution.
... Etwa 50-60% aller Ärzte sind promoviert, und der Großteil der Dissertationen wird während des Studiums begonnen [1]. Die Betreuung medizinischer Dissertationen ist neben der Planung ein wesentlicher Prädiktor für den Erfolg einer Arbeit [2,3]. Gleichzeitig sind Fähigkeiten und Kenntnisse zum wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten entscheidend für die Durchführung einer Promotionsarbeit. ...
... nur schlecht im Medizinstudium vermittelt. Es ist demzufolge auch nicht verwunderlich, dass die Mehrzahl aller Promovenden einen auf die Dissertation vorbereitenden Kurs als den wichtigsten Aspekt zur Verbesserung der derzeitigen Situation nennt [2]. Diesem Vorschlag haben wir uns in der vorliegenden Arbeit zugewandt. ...
Physicians in Germany are conferred the title "Doctor of medicine" (MD) upon successful completion of a dissertation. There is no course in the German medical curriculum that enables students to pursue original research. CONCEPT AND METHODS: We sought to address this lack of adequate preparation through a student-organized, hands-on workshop, which was problem- and, in part, computer-based. The workshop lasted 16 h (over the course of a weekend). The chronological sequence of a dissertation served as the main structure of this peer-education approach and was supported by a 30-page handout. The following topics were addressed: (1) Search for a dissertation, (2) Legal regulations, (3) Literature research and statistics, (4) Scientific writing, (5) Practical work, and (6) Review of the dissertation. The participants gained knowledge about and started working with the appropriate computer applications for these issues. So far, 60 students participated in four workshops. Evaluations were collected through an anonymous questionnaire at the end of the workshops.
56 students responded (93%). 98% of the respondents would definitely recommend other students to participate in the workshop. None of them recommend against taking the class. Students' opinion about their own skills in pursuing a dissertation before and at the end of the workshop (range: 1 = very good to 5 = unsatisfying) was 3.4 +/- 0.8 and 1.8 +/- 0.5, respectively ( p < 0.001). No student believed that his skills did not improve. 88% of the respondents wanted the workshop to continue being optional.
This peer-education approach is cost-efficient, enjoys high acceptance by students, and improves research skills among participants.
... med.). It should be stressed, that about one third of MD students polled reported that they received poor or nonexistent training to prepare themselves for scientific research, and 76% of respondents wished in general a better situation with their doctorate (Dewey, 2002). In this context, the German Council of Science proposed the following recommendations for the creation of special administrative structures for the management of doctoral education in medicine in order to secure certain standards: (i) a clear transparent structure with defined responsibilities, (ii) transparent procedures of quality assurance as well as of the applicant selection, (iii) a reasonable length of the doctorate (Wissenschaftsrat, 2004). ...
The main aim of this project was to establish a decentralized management and administration system for doctorates at the research unit of the Department of General, Visceral, and Transplant Surgery at the Medical Faculty of Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. A flow process chart conforming to the quality management system and detailing the sequence of a standardized initial introduction has been established. In order to determine if the introduction in each core facility was successful, a multiple-choice evaluation was implemented. Secondly, a welcome package has been created, which contains important information on how to start work in the department and also describes the necessary introductions and briefings and their sequence. Between 2018 and 2020, 20 applicants were accepted as doctoral students in the Department, two of them already finished their experimental work. Median duration of the introductory procedure was 20 days with minimum of six (6) and maximum of 121 days. Analysis of the test results revealed that in four types of briefings, all students passed the tests on the first attempt. However, for four other types of introductions, 5-31% of the students had to repeat the introductions due to failing the aptitude tests. All students were subsequently able to pass the aptitude tests at least on their second attempt. We successfully developed a decentralized management and administration system for doctorate students. Based on internal evaluations using key-indicators as well as the SWOT analysis, we can conclude that this management system could be used by research facilities that educate doctorate students.
... Importance of mentorship for successful surgical research is stressed universally: Either in its positive form as a contributing factor for success (36,37,42,44) or in its negative form due to a lack of mentorship resulting in failed research projects (43,(47)(48)(49). ...
Purpose: Research output of once-leading countries in surgical journals is decreasing despite an overall increase of scientific publications by 8% per year. We aimed to assess research outputs of German, Dutch, and Israeli pediatric surgeons in dedicated pediatric surgical journals in order to get insight into trends in pediatric surgical research. Methods: We collected bibliographic information on all original articles in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery, European Journal of Pediatric Surgery, and Pediatric Surgery International in 1985-1988, 2000-2003, and 2015-2018 that had a German, Dutch or Israeli last author from a department of pediatric surgery. Citation counts were obtained from the Web of Science. Results: Research output of German pediatric surgery decreased from 19 manuscripts in 1988 (0.1/surgeon/year) to eight manuscripts in 2017 (0.02/surgeon/year), whereas those of the Netherlands increased from two manuscripts in 1985 (0.08/surgeon/year) to 12 manuscripts in 2016 (0.3/surgeon/year). The declining German research output negatively correlated with increasing numbers of specialist pediatric surgeons for total (τ = -0.54; P = 0.0156) and manuscripts per surgeon (τ = -0.79; P = 0.0001), resulting in a negative trend over time (χ2 = 11.845, P = 0.0006). Analyses of citation patterns revealed that manuscripts by Dutch pediatric surgeons and those published in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery had higher absolute citation counts than the reference category of a German manuscript in the European Journal of Pediatric Surgery. Age-corrected citation rates resembled this result by increasing from 2000 to 2003 (
x
˜
= 0.799, range: 0-3.368) to 2015-2018 (
x
˜
= 2, range: 0-5) (P = 0.035) for the Netherlands. Assessment of manuscript types revealed that the proportion of prospective studies increased in the German sample (χ2 = 5.05, P = 0.0246), but remained the lowest among the comparators. Surprisingly, the proportion of non-clinical manuscripts from Germany also increased over time (χ2 = 4.001, P = 0.0455), whereas it remained constant in both the Netherlands and Israel. Conclusion: German pediatric surgical research output decreased in the last thirty years based on the sample of dedicated pediatric surgical journals, while Dutch productivity increased. Citation rates-as a measure of scientific impact-were associated and increased with Dutch manuscripts. The involved factors remain to be determined and whether this represents a shift toward other journals or mirrors a general development.
... chenden Ausbildung wird ja auch in jeder Stufe der wissenschaftlichen Entwicklung sichtbar. So stellt sich auch für eine erfolgreiche Promotion die gute Vorbereitung auf wissenschaftliches Arbeiten als ein wesentlicher Faktor heraus, wenn es etwa darum geht, erfolgreiche von abgebrochenen Forschungsprojekten in diesem Stadium zu unterscheiden (vgl.Dewey 2002). Managementmethoden sollten daher als Hilfsmittel für diese zu steuernden Prozesse eine nicht unbedeutende Rolle spielen.Coombs et al (1998) zeigen anhand von Forschungs-und Entwicklungsprojekten in Unternehmen die Bedeutung unterschiedlicher Projektmanagementstile aufgrund verschiedener Forschungsprojekttypen. Ausgehend von einem Grund ...
... The reasons why and when medical students in Germany decide to start working on a dissertation and the influence that a completed or abandoned research project has on their undergraduate studies are currently not well known. One study revealed that more than 15% of medical students never planned to start a dissertation project during their undergraduate training, while other studies from individual universities showed that up to 21% of all students abandoned at least one research project [17], [18]. There is an ongoing discussion whether scientific research should be an integrated part of undergraduate medical training and not connected with receiving the academic title " Dr. med. ...
Objective: The integration of scientific research into medical education is a widely discussed topic. Most research training programs are offered on a voluntary basis. In Germany, it is mandatory to complete a doctoral thesis to obtain the academic title “doctor”. The reasons why students start a dissertation project and the influence of this project on their undergraduate studies and later career choices are not well known.
Method: This study was conducted at five German universities in 2003, with a total of 437 fifth-year students participating in it. A standardised questionnaire was used to ask participants about their current or finished dissertation (group A), a dissertation they had discontinued (group B) or why they had never started a dissertation project (group C).
Results: The two most important reasons for students from group A to start a dissertation were “interest in the topic” and “advantage for job applications”. Compared with group B, they mentioned “improved ability to critically appraise scientific studies” and “doing scientific work independently” significantly more often as a result of working on their dissertation. Starting a dissertation project early during undergraduate studies was correlated with a less successful outcome. Moreover, working on a dissertation significantly reduced time spent on undergraduate studies. Students from group C named the "workload of undergraduate studies" and “no time” most frequently as reasons for not having started a dissertation.
Conclusion: Students who have been working successfully on a dissertation rate items regarding the acquisition of scientific research skills significantly more positively, and participation in undergraduate studies seems to be negatively affected by working on a dissertation project. Therefore, basic training in scientific research methodology should become an integrated part of the medical undergraduate curriculum, while special programs should be offered for students with a particular interest in scientific research programs or an academic career.
Introduction: One of the most important extracurricular aspects of medical studies in Germany is a research thesis completed by most students. This research project often times conveys relevant competencies for the physician’s role as scientist.
Nevertheless, the choice of the right project remains a challenge. Reasons for this are among others, missing structures for a comprehensive overview of research groups and their respective projects.
Description of the project: We developed the online platform Doktabörse as an online marketplace for doctoral research projects. The platform enables authorized researchers to create working groups and upload, deactivate and change research projects within their institute. For interested students, a front end with integrated search function displays these projects in a structured and well-arranged way. In parallel, the Doktabörse provides for a comprehensive overview of research at the medical faculty. We evaluated Researchers‘ and students‘ use of the platform.
Results: 96,6% of students participating in the evaluation (n=400) were in favor of a centralized research platform at the medical faculty. The platform grew at a steady pace and included 120 research groups in June 2016. The students appreciated the structure and design of the Doktabörse. Two thirds of all uploaded projects matched successfully with doctoral students via the platform and over 94% of researchers stated that they did not need technical assistance with uploading projects and handling the platform.
Discussion: The Doktabörse represents an innovative and well accepted platform for doctoral research projects. The platform is perceived positively by researchers and students alike. However, students criticized limited extent and timeliness of offered projects.
In addition, the platform serves as databank of research at the medical faculty of the LMU Munich. The future potential of this platform is to provide for an integrated management solution of doctoral thesis projects, possibly beyond the medical field and faculty.
The dissertation is the oldest consistent requirement for becoming a doctor in most academic disciplines in the United States. The dissertation, which has its roots in the 19th Century German educational system, is the central requisite for the highest level of educational attainment, the doctor of philosophy (Rosenberg, 1962). It is distinguished from pedagogical training, which happens at earlier stages in the educational process, and is the formal demonstration that a student has attained the skills necessary to independently produce relevant scientific research and scholarship. In the United States, the dissertation was first adopted as a requirement for the doctorate by Yale University in 1861 (Furniss, 1965) and quickly became the central exposition in the passage from student to doctor for most academic disciplines in most universities. Within psychology, completion of the dissertation has been central to training at the doctoral level since the Ph.D. degree was first granted to G. Stanley Hall in 1878 (Street, 1994). This requirement is common to most doctoral psychology students and, in that sense, might be seen as the unifying or binding activity for doctorial training in our field. In its most recent survey, the US Department of Education (2000) found that 46,010 doctoral degrees were granted in 1998. Almost 10% of those degrees (4,073) were Ph.D.s in psychology.
Introduction:
Award of the degree MD has special relevance in Germany since the underlying research project can be started during the qualification for admission to doctoral training. This leads to a large number of thesis projects with a not always sufficiently pronounced enthusiasm and thus poor chances of success. Accordingly a case control study was undertaken in the Department of Human Medicine, Witten/Herdecke University to investigate reported drop-outs of thesis projects.
Material and method:
In autumn 2012 all students in the clinical phases of human medicine education were surveyed using a self-conceived questionnaire on previously initiated or terminated thesis projects, "terminated" is defined as the unsuccessful ending of a project after working for at least 3 months. Individually reported thesis terminations were evaluated using defined items in a 4-stage Likert scale regarding thesis plan and project, subsequently, graduate students who successfully completed a project received the same questionnaire. The items possibly corresponding to process determinants were averaged to a total of 7 dimensions prior to the analysis; the resulting scores were normalised in value ranges 0.0 to 1.0 (1.0 = optimal project situation) whereby individual items could be included in several scores. By means of 5 items a primary endpoint from the faculty's perspective on "compliance with formal procedures" was aggregated; by means of a two-sided Wilcoxon test at the 5 % level students with unsuccessful and successful courses were compared along the corresponding scores.
Results:
181 of 276 students from 7 study semesters participated in the screening; details of 17 terminations and 23 currently successful courses could be evaluated in the case control study. For significant differences (p < 0.001) between unsuccessful and successful courses in the primary endpoint, median scores of 0.17 (0.07-0.50) versus 0.73 (0.53-0.83) were estimated.
Conclusion:
There were differences between unsuccessful and (as yet) successful courses, especially with regard to the aspects "compliance with formal procedures". Thus a recommendation can be derived in the sense of a stricter and, if necessary, sanctioning demand for formal procedures such as early reporting of thesis projects to the responsible committees. A weakness is the low number of evaluable self-reported drop-outs as well as the overall moderate response rate.
Background and objective:
The topic medical dissertation is often discussed controversially without quantitative data in Germany. The aim of this survey was to analyze the situation of doctoral students in medicine again after ten years.
Methods:
Students at Charité - Berlin in their 11th to 14th semester completed an online survey about the progress and the support of their dissertations (n = 1081). The questionnaire included current and aborted dissertations.
Results:
The present evaluation had almost the same percentage of respondents (28 %) as in 2001 (31 %) and showed improvements in the preparation for scientific work by curricular courses (p < 0.001). 51 % were aware of the principles of good scientific practice in 2011, which was five times more than in 2001 (10 %, p < 0.001). The knowledge of the doctoral topics catalogue doubled in the same time (from 40 % to 81 %, p < 0.001). In addition the participants of the Charité graduate program felt better prepared for scientific work (p < 0.001). One third still criticized the insufficient funds for their doctoral projects. Another request was better training in statistics because 50 % received no statistical support during the pursue of their thesis.
Conclusion:
The graduate program at Charité has been making a significant contribution towards improved preparation for scientific work and medical dissertations. However, there are still improvements necessary such as better financial support and statistical preparation of medical dissertations.
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.
Background and Objective:
Physicians in Germany are conferred the title „Doctor
medicinae“ (MD) upon successful completion of a dissertation. There is no
course in the German medical curriculum that enables students to pursue original
research.
Concept and Methods:
We sought to address this lack of adequate preparation
through a student-organized, hands-on workshop, which was problem- and, in
part, computer-based. The workshop lasted 16 h (over the course of a weekend).
The chronological sequence of a dissertation served as the main structure
of this peer-education approach and was supported by a 30-page handout. The
following topics were addressed: (1) Search for a dissertation, (2) Legal regulations,
(3) Literature research and statistics, (4) Scientific writing, (5) Practical
work, and (6) Review of the dissertation. The participants gained knowledge
about and started working with the appropriate computer applications for these
issues. So far, 60 students participated in four workshops. Evaluations were collected
through an anonymous questionnaire at the end of the workshops.
Results:
56 students responded (93%). 98% of the respondents would definitely
recommend other students to participate in the workshop. None of them
recommend against taking the class. Students’ opinion about their own skills in
pursuing a dissertation before and at the end of the workshop (range: 1 = very
good to 5 = unsatisfying) was 3.4 ± 0.8 and 1.8 ± 0.5, respectively (p < 0.001).
No student believed that his skills did not improve. 88% of the respondents
wanted the workshop to continue being optional.
Conclusions:
This peer-education approach is cost-efficient, enjoys high
acceptance by students, and improves research skills among participants.
Weight and quality of medical doctoral theses have been discussed in Germany for years. Doctoral study programs in various graduate schools offer opportunities to improve quality of medical doctoral theses. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate distinctions and differences concerning motivation, choice of subject and the dissertation process between doctoral candidates completing the doctoral seminar for doctoral students in the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich and doctoral candidates doing their doctorate individually.
All 4000 medical students of the LMU obtained an online-questionnaire which was completed by 767 students (19 % response rate). The theoretical framework of this study was based upon the Self-Determination-Theory by Deci and Ryan.
Doctoral candidates completing the doctoral study program were more intrinsically motivated than doctoral candidates doing their doctorate individually; no difference was found in their extrinsic motivation. In regard to choice of subject and dissertation process the doctoral students in the seminar were distinguished from the individual group by having chosen a more challenging project. They anticipated a demanding dissertation process including conference participation, publishing of papers, etc. Intrinsic motivation correlates positively with choosing a challenging project and a demanding dissertation process.
High intrinsic motivation seems to be very important for autonomous scholarly practice. Our results suggest that doctoral study programs have a positive impact on intrinsic motivation and interest in research.
Hintergrund: Die Zahl der Medizinstudenten, die ihr Studium mit einer Dissertation abschließen, hat sich in den letzten Jahren kontinuierlich verringert. Um die Ursachen der “Promotionsmüdigkeit” deutscher Medizinstudenten zu analysieren, befragten wir sowohl erfolgreiche als auch gescheiterte Promovenden nach ihrer Einschätzung zum Stellenwert medizinischer Dissertationen und nach den individuellen Gründen, die zum Abbruch der Promotionsarbeit führten.
Befragte Personen und Methoden: Wir befragten in zwei repräsentativen Erhebungen erfolgreiche und gescheiterte Promovenden nach ihrer Einschätzung über Sinn und Unsinn einer Dissertation. Insgesamt konnten wir die Meinung von 321 Ärztinnen und Ärzten auswerten, von denen 181 promoviert und 140 ohne Titel waren.
Ergebnisse: Bei 96% aller Befragten bestand eine initiale Promotionsabsicht. 67% der nicht promovierten Befragten hielten eine Dissertation heute für nicht mehr zeitgemäß und entbehrlich. Die erfolgreichen Promovenden realisierten ihre Dissertation in 80% mit dem ersten Thema, sie bewerteten die Betreuung durch ihre “Doktorväter” als sehr gut bis gut. Die nicht promovierten Befragten berichteten über bis zu vier frustrane Promotionsversuche. In den meisten Fällen führten nicht private Gründe, sondern eine unzureichende Betreuung zum Abbruch der Promotion. Über 90% der erfolgreichen Promovenden bewerteten die Dissertation auch persönlich als sinnvoll; sie würden nachrückenden Kolleginnen und Kollegen ebenfalls zu einer Dissertation raten. Bei etwa einem Drittel der nicht promovierten Kolleginnen und Kollegen besteht auch heute noch Dissertationswunsch.
Schlußfolgerung: Unsere Untersuchungen zeigen, dass der Stellenwert medizinischer Dissertationen hoch einzuschätzen ist. Daher sollten sie fester Bestandteil medizinischer Ausbildung und universitärer Forschung bleiben.
Grundproblematik und Fragestellung: Bislang existieren nur wenige Untersuchungen zur Bewertung der medizinischen Dissertation durch Doktoranden, die einen interuniversitären Vergleich erlauben. Unklar bleibt, ob das jetzige Promotionsverfahren bei einer Änderung des Medizinstudiums beibehalten werden kann.
Methodik: Mithilfe eines 28 Fragen umfassenden Erhebungsbogens wurden Promovenden der Humanmedizin des Jahres 1998 der Medizinischen Universität zu Lübeck befragt. Erhoben wurden Daten zu Thema, Dauer, Betreuung, Abbrüchen und Einflüssen der Doktorarbeit auf das Studium und möglicher Neugestaltung des Promotionsverfahrens. Die Ergebnisse wurden auf signifikante Unterschiede zu Voruntersuchungen analysiert.
Ergebnisse: 70 Fragebögen (Rücklaufquote 63 %) konnten ausgewertet und mit den Untersuchungen aus Hannover und Erlangen-Nürnberg verglichen werden. Die befragten Lübecker Doktoranden fühlten sich signifikant besser betreut, führten häufiger experimentelle Studien durch und ihre Ergebnisse führten häufiger zur Publikation als in den Vergleichsstudien. Das Studium wurde in der Regel um ein Semester durch die Doktorarbeit verlängert, signifikant häufiger bei Doktoranden mit experimenteller Arbeit gegenüber solchen mit klinischer Dissertation. Die Befragten stehen der Promotion kritisch gegenüber und wollen nur zu einem Drittel das jetzige Verfahren beibehalten. Um die Ursachen hierfür aufzudecken, erscheinen weitere Untersuchungen notwendig. Als konkrete Verbesserungsvorschläge ergaben sich die Einrichtung einer zentralen Anlaufstelle für ausgeschriebene Doktorarbeiten und die eines regulär freien Semesters für die Promotion.
Folgerung: Für die Evaluation und den interuniversitären Vergleich sollten ähnliche Erhebungen an allen deutschen medizinischen Fakultäten durchgeführt werden. Bei einer Änderung der Ausbildungsordnung sollte über eine feste Integration der Promotion in das Studium oder aber eine völlige Trennung vom Studium nachgedacht werden.
Hintergrund und Fragestellung: Viele Medizinstudenten in Deutschland nehmen im Rahmen ihrer Doktorarbeit an der universitären Forschung teil. Für dieses Modell studentischer Forschungsaktivität gibt es in Europa Alternativen. Deshalb wurde die Forschungsaktivität von Medizinstudenten in Deutschland am Beispiel der Universität Würzburg untersucht.
Methodik: An alle Mitglieder des Lehrkörpers der medizinischen Fakultät der Universität Würzburg wurde ein Fragebogen mit 20 Fragen zur Zahl der betreuten Studenten, Dauer der Promotionen, Abbrecherquote, Materialkosten der Forschungsarbeit, Veröffentlichungsergebnissen und zur Einschätzung des Wertes medizinstudentischer Forschung verschickt (n = 238). Es fanden sich darunter 50 Professoren in einer C4-Position, 66 Professoren in einer C3-Position sowie 122 Privatdozenten/Extraordinarien.
Ergebnisse: 106 Fakultätsmitglieder antworteten auf die Befragung (45 %); von diesen arbeiteten 66 in einer Klinik, 26 in einem kliniknahen Institut und 14 in einem Grundlageninstitut. Die Promotionsarbeiten begannen in der Regel im 4. Studienjahr und dauerten im Mittel 216 Tage ganztags. Eine mittlere Einarbeitungsdauer von 3 Monaten wurde genannt, die Abbrecherquote lag bei 10 %, und jeder Universitätslehrer betreute im Mittel 4,5 Studenten. Die Kosten für eine nicht-experimentelle Arbeit (48,3 %) wurden im Mittel auf 2300 DM, die für eine experimentelle Arbeit (51,7 %) im Mittel auf 15 000 DM beziffert. In der Regel ergaben sich aus einer Promotion zwei Publikationen und ein bis zwei Poster/Vorträge. Zwei Drittel der Fakultätsmitglieder hielten die medizinstudentische Forschungsaktivität zur Aufrechterhaltung einer qualitativ und quantitativ hohen Publikationsleistung der Universitätsklinik für wichtig.
Folgerung: Die medizinische Promotion fördert nicht nur wissenschaftliches Denken der angehenden Mediziner, sondern leistet auch einen Beitrag zur Sicherung des Wissenschaftsstandortes.
Undergraduates are not only writing scientific papers - they're reviewing them, editing them and posting them online. Josette Chen examines a scientific publishing phenomenon.
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