Interlinking committee work and medical law

What connection can you make between your voluntary committee activities and your teaching?

In my opinion, the task and therefore the raison d'être of universities of applied sciences is the special connection between academic teaching and research and professional practice. This must not be limited to the selection of applicants in the appointment procedure, but must also be practiced continuously afterwards. My practical insights from my committee activities naturally also flow into my courses - for example on pharmaceutical law or the law on innovations in the healthcare sector. Of course, I am not allowed to discuss specific cases from the committees with my students, but it is much easier to discuss pharmaceutical law issues in connection with the current pandemic, for example, if you are involved in the content of the current approval procedures yourself. The same also applies to the new activities in arbitration boards and committees for contract (dental) medical care.

What role does dentistry play in medical law and where does the subject area fit into your teaching?

In terms of medical law, dentistry belongs to the so-called health professions, i.e. the group of professionals who are permitted direct access to patients without external referral. The professional law of the healthcare professions is the subject of my introductory course "Law in Healthcare". However, the new committee activity mentioned does not relate to the professional law of dentists, but to the so-called contract doctors' law. As part of SGB V, this regulates the framework conditions for outpatient healthcare for patients covered by statutory health insurance by the members of the associations of statutory health insurance (dental) physicians. The law of statutory health insurance is also dealt with in the aforementioned course in the Bachelor's degree program "Management in Healthcare" and later taken up in greater depth in the associated Master's degree program.

You are in demand as an expert in many subject areas. Do you also advise your students to be versatile and to think outside the box?

Thinking outside the box is highly recommended - and not just during your studies. However, understanding other disciplines and thus also interdisciplinary work requires that you have first "done your homework" in your own subject area. Otherwise, you run the risk of being able to do everything at some point, but none of it properly. I would therefore recommend initially devoting all your energy to your own subject area during your studies and, on the side, always taking a look at other areas. The further you progress, the more courageous your excursions into related fields should be. The Bachelor's/Master's system, for example, offers the opportunity to deepen the inclinations discovered in the Bachelor's course in a Master's degree. Regardless of the respective level of education, however, there should always be a willingness to accept the existence of other perspectives. Not only interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary work is helpful here, but also international experience.