[Certification guidelines and qualification courses]

German regulations require a license for using ionizing radiation in medicine. This license-called "Fachkunde"-varies for different medical procedures such as CT, fluoroscopy, radiography, or mammography. The required frequencies and training times also vary for different medical disciplines such as radiology, cardiology, vascular surgery, traumatology, nuclear medicine, and radiotherapy, among others. The quality criteria for a specific license require a minimum training time under supervision and a minimum frequency of a wide range of procedures. Depending on the radiation doses used and the complexity of procedures performed, this may go up to 5000 examinations and 36 months for a radiology resident. A refresher course is mandatory every 5 years.