Working life

You’ve made it: you’re working as a radiologist or a radiographer in Germany. But what can you actually expect in your working life? How many hours do you have to work and how many breaks are you entitled to? What is the best way to communicate with your superiors and colleagues?

Working hours in medical professions

The basis for the working hours to be worked in a profession is the so-called Working Hours Act (Arbeitszeitgesetz (ArbZG)). With exceptions it also applies to doctors.

Hierarchy levels

The hierarchy in medical institutions varies slightly between clinics, practices and university hospitals, but general patterns remain: flat at the bottom, but often still existing at the top.

Communication tips

In the medical working world, effective communication and interprofessional collaboration are crucial to avoid misunderstandings and make it easier to get started. Here are some specific tips that can help you to orientate and integrate better in clinics, practices or university hospitals in Germany.

Report templates

In most institutions, radiology reports are written as free texts – typically with the help of digital speech recognition. Most of these systems have spelling correction programmes to a limited extent, which can help to formulate linguistically correct findings. Another option for creating radiological findings is the use of so-called report templates.

Tips for your night shifts

When are junior doctors qualified to work a night shift by themselves? The answer is: to be eligible for night duty, a doctor must be able to cover computed tomography and the spectrum of conventional X-ray diagnostics.