General to Plastic Surgery in Germany: Which Years Transfer?

When you switch from general surgery to plastic surgery in Germany, the state medical chamber credits named rotations and tasks, not your whole previous job. Your years do not disappear automatically. But a contract that says Assistenzarzt Chirurgie is not enough for the new specialty. The chamber reads your certificates, your rotation dates, and the operations in your Logbuch before it decides how many months belong in your plastic surgery training.

This is the question behind the search term Facharztwechsel Anrechnung Weiterbildungszeit. Facharztwechsel means changing specialist tracks. Anrechnung der Weiterbildungszeit means crediting training time you already completed. For a move from Allgemeinchirurgie to Plastische, Rekonstruktive und Ästhetische Chirurgie, the decision belongs to the Landesärztekammer, the state medical chamber, where you will register your new training.

Do your general surgery years transfer to plastic surgery?

Yes, the chamber normally credits the shared surgical work that appears in its training rules. Ward rounds, emergency admissions, wound treatment, drains, blood products, operating room assistance, intensive care rotations, and general surgical operations can fit the early surgical requirements. A detailed certificate from your chief or senior doctor gives the chamber dates, weekly hours, department name, and the procedures you performed.

The chamber does not credit a year simply because you worked hard on a surgical ward. It compares your certificate with the Weiterbildungsordnung, the state training rules for specialists. If your certificate says only “worked in general surgery from January to December,” the clerk cannot match that sentence to emergency medicine, intensive care, or surgical procedures. The result is fewer credited months, or a request for a new certificate.

Which parts normally count?

The strongest parts are the shared basics of surgery. Think of a general surgery service with appendectomies, hernias, abscess drainage, trauma calls, post-operative bleeding, wound checks, and night admissions. These duties are easy to place beside the common surgical parts of a plastic surgery training programme. Time in an intensive care unit is also valuable when the unit and dates are clearly listed.

Your training certificate should name the person who held the Weiterbildungsbefugnis, the training licence. It should also state whether you worked full time or part time. A department head who had no training licence for your period cannot sign all training months. The chamber may still look at the work, but you should expect questions and delays.

Which parts restart from zero?

Plastic surgery-specific work starts when you enter a plastic, reconstructive, hand, burn, or aesthetic surgery department. Breast reconstruction, free flaps, tendon repairs, skin graft planning, hand trauma, scar revision, facial reconstruction, and microsurgery are not replaced by a list of laparoscopic cholecystectomies. The plastic surgery Logbuch requires procedures and patient groups that general surgery departments do not provide.

That is why doctors who switch after 2 or 3 years do not begin as beginners on the ward. They already know consent forms, surgical admissions, theatre workflow, discharge letters, and night duty. But they still need the plastic surgery months and procedure numbers that their new Logbuch lists. Their medical experience transfers. Their missing plastic surgery operations still need to be completed.

Why the hospital cannot promise the final number

A chief in a plastic surgery department can tell you that your general surgery background makes you employable. That is useful, especially for a junior doctor post. The chief cannot give the binding credit decision. The Landesärztekammer does that after it receives your certificates and later reviews your full application for specialist recognition.

The federal Model Further Training Regulation from the Bundesärztekammer is a guide, not your final rulebook. Each Bundesland publishes its own Weiterbildungsordnung and training-logbook requirements. North Rhine-Westphalia has 2 state medical chambers, while most states have 1. Use the chamber where your new plastic surgery job is based, not the chamber from your old general surgery hospital.

Get the answer before you resign

Ask for a written pre-assessment before you leave a general surgery post. Send the chamber your employment certificate, rotation list, intensive care certificate, and current Logbuch pages. A written reply will not replace the final specialist application, because your full file is checked later. It does show how the chamber reads the months you have already worked.

At the plastic surgery interview, ask how many years the department can certify under its training licence. A large hospital can have excellent reconstructive cases but only a limited licence for plastic surgery training. If the licence covers fewer years than the specialty requires, you will need another hospital later. Get that answer before you sign the contract.

What to do on Monday

• Email your state medical chamber: “How many of my 3 years in Allgemeinchirurgie, including 6 months in ICU, can be credited toward Plastische, Rekonstruktive und Ästhetische Chirurgie?”
• Ask your current chief for a certificate with exact dates, weekly hours, ward rotations, ICU months, emergency duties, and named operations.
• Download the plastic surgery Logbuch from your new chamber and mark the procedures your general surgery department cannot provide.
• Ask the plastic surgery department: “How many months of specialist training can your training licence certify at this hospital?”

Stand: 2026-09-16. This article is orientation, not legal advice. Rules differ by Bundesland and change — always confirm with your [Landesärztekammer](https://www.bundesaerztekammer.de/aerztekammern) before acting.