White Paper: Radiology Curriculum for Undergraduate Medical Education in Germany and Integration into the NKLM 2.0

Abstract

Objective The aim was to develop a new curriculum for radiology in medical studies, to reach a national consensus and to integrate it into the new national competence-based learning objectives catalog (NKLM 2.0). In this statement of the German Radiological Society (DRG), the process of curriculum development is described and the new curriculum is presented together with suggestions for practical implementation. Materials and Methods The DRG has developed a new curriculum for radiology. This was coordinated nationally among faculty via an online survey and the result was incorporated into the NKLM 2.0. Furthermore, possibilities for the practical implementation of the competency-based content are shown and different teaching concepts are presented. Results The developed curriculum is competency-based and aims to provide students with important skills and abilities for their future medical practice. The general part of the curriculum is divided into the topics “Radiation Protection”, “Radiological Methods” and radiologically-relevant “Digital Skills”. Furthermore, there is a special part on the individual organ systems and the specific diseases. In order to implement this in a resource-saving way, new innovative teaching concepts are needed that combine the advantages of face-to-face teaching in small groups for practical and case-based learning with digital teaching offers for resource-saving teaching of theoretical content. Conclusion We have created a uniform radiology curriculum for medical studies in Germany, coordinated it nationally and integrated it into the NKLM 2.0. The curriculum forms the basis of a uniform mandatory radiology teaching and should be the basis for the individual curriculum development of each faculty and strengthen the position of radiology in the interdisciplinary context. Key Points: Citation Format

Students’ and junior doctors’ perspectives on radiology education in medical school: a qualitative study in the Netherlands

“…The possibility of developing an LLC to improve radiology curricula was positively reviewed by participants. Literature showed examples of national radiology curricula that were developed in the UK, Australia and Germany [ 23 , 31 ]. However, it was unclear whether these curricula are also integrated in medical curricula.…”

Invest in the future: “Hands-on Radiology” summer school

“…A few students also commented that they realized that their knowledge in radiology was lower in direct comparison to participants from other universities. This aspect may be mitigated by a more prominent role of radiology within the national curriculum, which has just been set up in Germany [ 14 ].…”

Effects of undergraduate ultrasound education on cross-sectional image understanding and visual-spatial ability - a prospective study

“…Subsequently, multiple points of contact as possible should be provided across specialties during clinical training to promote the development of practical examination skills and understanding of pathology [17][18][19][20]. These catalogues address imaging procedures in different areas of competence and disciplines and thus should be included in the training programs [13,21]. Training approaches hence differ in timing, teaching formats, teaching methods, and scope of radiological training [11,13,22,23].…”