There are more than 40 medical specialties in Germany. A list of them and the duration of their residency periods is explained here: “🇩🇪 Durations of the residency programs in Germany (🇩🇪 die Dauer der Facharztausbildung)“
For almost every medical specialty in Germany, there is a society. Examples:
| Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurologie (DGN) | German Neurology Society |
| Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kardiologie (DGK) | German Society of Cardiology (DGK) |
| Deutsche Gesellschaft für Angiologie – Gesellschaft für Gefäßmedizin (DGA) | German Society for Angiology – Society for Vascular Medicine (DGA) |
| Deutsche Gesellschaft für Allgemeinmedizin und Familienmedizin e. V. (DEGAM) | German Society for General Medicine and Family Medicine e. V. (DEGAM) |
| Deutsche Gesellschaft für Innere Medizin (DGIM) | German Society for Internal Medicine (DGIM) |
| Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nephrologie (DGfN) | German Society for Nephrology (DGfN) |
| Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gerontologie und Geriatrie e. V. (DGGG) | German Society for Gerontology and Geriatrics e. V. (DGGG) |
| Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geriatrie (DGG) | German Society for Geriatrics (DGG) |
| Deutsche Gesellschaft für Klinische Chemie und Laboratoriumsmedizin (DGKL) | German Society for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (DGKL) |
Moreover, some societies deal with certain diseases/topics. Examples:
| Deutsche Hochdruckliga e. V. | German Hypertension League e. V |
| Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Bekämpfung von Fettstoffwechselstörungen und ihren Folgeerkrankungen DGFF (Lipid-Liga) e. V. | German Society for Combating Disorders of Lipid Metabolism and Their Complications DGFF (Lipid-League) e. V |
| Deutsche Schlaganfall Gesellschaft | German Stroke Society |
If you google the name of any society, you will find its website.
Functions of the societies
(1) Holding medical events related to that specialty. For example, there are yearly large congresses and many small events.
(2) Publishing guidelines related to topics in this specialty. For example, the German Cardiology Society publishes guidelines for acute coronary syndrome, atrial fibrillation, CPR, etc. These guidelines are usually interdisciplinary and involve many societies from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. For example, the following societies took part in the 2021 guideline about the acute therapy of ischemic stroke:
(3) Publishing one or many journals
(4) Holding events to encourage young doctors to choose their specialty. Examples are short courses in hospitals and tours in them (sometimes in many hospitals over a few days)
(5) On their websites, they publish job offers, courses (paid or for free), and news related to the specialty
• Cost of the membership
It costs money. However, for residents, it is cheaper than for specialists. For students, it is free (but they do not have access to all the services/benefits).
Members get reductions in the fees for conferences of the society and could get journals for free.
Even if it costs money, you can make this sum less by making a tax declaration (🇩🇪 eine Steuererklärung). We explained it here: “🇩🇪 Tax declaration (🇩🇪 eine Steuererklärung)”
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