Medical Licensing Pathway
Facharzt
Facharzt is specialist training — the multi-year stage after Approbation that leads to recognition as a specialist, such as Facharzt für Innere Medizin.
- Duration
- 4–6 years, depending on the specialty
- Where
- As an Assistenzarzt (resident) at a teaching hospital
- Outcome
- The Facharzt title, and eligibility for senior/consultant roles
What Facharzt Training Involves
After Approbation, most doctors in Germany work as an Assistenzarzt while completing structured specialist training (Weiterbildung) in a chosen field — internal medicine, surgery, anesthesiology, and so on — each with its own defined curriculum and minimum duration set by the regional medical chamber.
Training is logged against a structured requirements catalogue (Logbuch), and completion is confirmed by an oral specialist examination at the end.
Choosing a Specialty and a Hospital
The right specialty and hospital depend on your existing experience, the training reputation and capacity of individual departments, and practical factors like location and language environment. This is a decision worth making deliberately rather than accepting the first offer.
How ApexMed Supports This Stage
Facharzt guidance focuses on specialty selection, positioning your CV and application for Assistenzarzt roles, and understanding what a given department's training program actually looks like in practice — continuing the mentorship relationship well past Approbation.
Frequently asked questions
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A free profile assessment maps this stage against your current progress.