Prospective dentists learn the basics of business management

In addition to training with drills and syringes, Witten/Herdecke University (UW/H) has also been offering its dentistry students money management courses since this winter semester. "We are responding to the wishes of our students, some of whom are already being approached by agencies for long-term insurance contracts during their studies," says Prof Dr Stefan Zimmer, Head of the School of Dentistry at the UW/H. "We want to equip them with the skills they need. "We want to give them the tools they need to distinguish between reputable and dubious investments."

Another reason for this seminar: In rural areas in particular, there is a lack of dentists who want to set up their own practice or take over an existing one. Often, they can hardly estimate how much debt they will have to take on to set up or take over such a practice. "We also want to prepare our graduates for these situations so that they can make informed decisions themselves and are not dependent on advisors," explains the Head of the Office of Student Affairs for Dentistry, Prof Dr Mozhgan Bizhang.

Podcaster and book author teaches money knowledge from Management basics to business plans

Students at the UW/H can now take the elective "Financial Education for Dentists" in their third semester. And as many as 29 out of 44 students have done so voluntarily and bindingly and registered for the examination. The UW/H was able to recruit business graduate Christian Henrici to teach the course. Since 2006, he has been the founder and managing director of OPTI health consulting GmbH, which has now advised around 3,500 dental practices in Germany. Henrici is a contract lecturer and speaker on controlling, personnel and business planning and has published the book "Wer braucht schon gutes Personal? - Erfolgreich führen in der Zahnarztpraxis" and, in addition to many specialist articles, he reaches more than 20,000 dentists every week with his podcast "Praxisflüsterer".

His module begins with essential Management basics, but then quickly leads to an understanding of different asset classes and the magic triangle of "liquidity, risk, return". It covers financing and insurance knowledge and even concludes with the foundation and business planning of a dental practice. "Dentists in private practice are also entrepreneurs and need to learn about this facet of their profession," says Prof Bizhang, explaining the reason for the addition to the programme.