Welche Strukturformeln sollte der Mediziner bzw. Zahnmediziner für die Physikumsprüfung beherrschen?

Students of medicine and dental medicine in the preparation of the preliminary examination are confronted with the question, whether and which chemical structural formula for the Biochemistry/molecular biology have to be learned. The present catalog of the national institution for medical and pharmaceutical examination (IMPP) gives only very vague information. Also the university teachers on site mostly do not commit themselves. In addition, the students have the subjective impression that the opinions of their lecturers strongly deviate from each other. Help also does not come from the usually reliable textbooks which mostly overflow with formulas, but omit information, which formulas are needed to be learned and are relevant for the exam. Also the Internet, which is an additional source of information with growing importance in the apprenticeship, does not give the answer to the ques-tion. Therefore the purpose of the thesis was to give a reasonable answer to the question, which chemical structural formulas have to be learned. In addition, the situation described was analyzed and supported with data, which are based on a systematic questioning of German university teachers of biochemistry and molecular biology. Based on the formula catalog, which Prof. Koolman (Physiological-Chemical Insti-tute of the University of Marburg) recommends to his students, a survey was con-ducted with 98 university teachers from institutes of biochemistry / molecular biology at 36 universities, who are involved in medical education. From the con-tacted university teachers 26 answered. The answers reflected a large heterogeneity with respect to the question, which formulas have to be learned. Apparently there is no consensus among the examiners which structural formulas are to be learned. Since the dispatched formula catalog was in the middle of the answer spectrum, a multimedia teaching unit, which processed the lesson (chemical structural formula for students of medicine and dental medicine), was developed. Besides, appropriate didactic recommendations were taken into consideration for e-learning. The learning unit was written for the learning platform k-MED, in order to secure its broad usa-bility at many universities. In the second approach, those university teachers who had already answered the first inquiry, were contacted once more. The learning unit and a detailed questionnaire were presented to them. The appraisal learning unit had predominant approval. Indeed, the return rate was too low to regard the result as statistically significant. It can be concluded that the source question is a burning issue to the students, but not for the lecturing staff. The question is about what the learning formula has to do with presented learning unity as an answer. Whether this answer fulfills the needs of the students for a dependable standard, a future questioning of the users will have to be determined. In the long term it would be desirable if the lecturers of biochemistry and molecular biology could come to an agreement - possibly at the level of their federation (socie-ty of German biochemists and molecular biologist, GBM) – on a catalog of chemical formulas relevant in examinations.