ADVANCED PLASTÄ°C and RECONSTRUCTÄ°VE SURGERY
Third Cycle Programmes
(Doctorate Degree/Doctor of Fine Arts)

D.1. General Information about Program

Used to be 6 years before 2009, the length of the plastic surgery training in Turkey has been changed to 5 years, hence, the training programme became more intense. As the diseases and deformities concerning plastic surgery are very vast, medical and technological developments led to new treatment techniques in plastic surgery due to the enlightened physiopathology. Because of the intense and long rotation periods in plastic surgery residency, to train residents as questioners of the physiopathology and the researchers in plastic surgery is not feasible. As with other branches in medicine, a doctoral degree programme can provide this kind of training. Within the Institute of Health and Science, Advanced Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic Surgery Doctoral Degree Programme, which comprises various disciplines, was established in 17 June 1998 by courtesy of the Council of Higher Education. This doctoral degree programme, the one and only as to plastic surgery in Turkey, contains of three subgroups: craniomaxillofacial, hand and microsurgery, and aesthetic surgery.

This programme is a multidisciplinary programme for specialists in plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery. Residency training is intended for giving residents the management skills in clinics and surgical skills they need in order to apply treatment modalities. A postgraduate education, doctoral degree programme is an intense programme theoretically that is intended to train the students as researchers and scientists who can design and conduct research. For this purpose, many laboratory research materials and equipments belonged to other clinics are employed for doctoral degree students. This doctoral education is a four-year programme and contains a total of 240 credits. Students must complete all theoretical and practical lessons in the first two years, and those who manage this must complete a doctoral thesis in the last two years of this programme. Taking compulsory and elective lessons and being successful in the exams is another rule of this programme. Until now, Craniomaxillofacial doctoral education programme has been completed by 4 specialists, and Hand&Microsurgery doctoral education programme has been completed by 4 specialists as well.

If a specialist --who has completed residency training, who knows clinical problems, and who has a lot of clinical experience, completes a doctoral degree programme, no doubt that he/she will contribute to the evolution of the world and science by becoming a scientist that is capable of finding cause and effect relationship and capable of questioning clinical problems in detail.

Apart from teaching the methods of research, the goals in this programme are providing doctoral degree students skills to apply plastic surgery in education and in research,to think critically, to synthesize research, to communicate with nationally and internationally  institutes about projects and scientific practice, to mentor students and residents, to change political trends in order for  society to increase their quality of life and condition of health, to conduct evidence-based research apply clinically, to transfer the knowledge obtained from research into the academic environment.

The language of instruction for this programme is Turkish, and foreign students are also most welcome. 

D.2 Qualification Awarded

Doctorate

D.3. Level of Qualification

QF-EHEA: 3
EQF-LLL: 8

D.4. Provisions for Registration

1) Possessing a diploma of plastic, reconstructive, and aesthetic surgery granted by the Turkish Ministry of Health.

 2) Fulfilling the conditions determined by  Institute of Health Sciences Post-gradual Education at Hacettepe University.

To have ALES (SAY / EA) score type and ALES and Foreign Language base score determined by the Health Sciences Institute Board and approved by the Hacettepe University Senate http://www.saglikbilimleri.hacettepe.edu.tr/en/menu/ales_foreign_language_scores-252

To meet the application requirements of Hacettepe University Graduate Education and Examination Regulations and Institute of Health Sciences.

D.5. Qualification Requirements and Regulations

In order to complete all subjects in this program successfully (a total of 240 credits), students have to get 2.5 GPA or higher scores for all subjects. Moreover, students have to be successful in their both thesis defenses and doctoral qualifications. 

D.6. Specific Arrangements for Recognition of Prior Learning

The relevant articles of Hacettepe University Graduate Education-Examination and Examination Regulations are applied 

D.7. Goals and Objectives

The aim of this PhD programme is to give students -who have the fundamental knowledge, understanding, and skills in the field of plastic surgery- the ability to think and research independently. Ethical, legal,administrative and educational personalities are aimed to be strengthened. Moreover, the abilities to plan, manage and conclude unique studies are expected to be gained by students. The abilities and knowledge the students have acquired are also expected to be used for the sake of the service of society. 

Individuals completing the doctoral degree programme are not only be able to manage and establish a clinic, but also be able to make the clinic competitive in the international area and be able to train plastic surgeons who would have self-confidence and would be scientifically and technically sufficient in an international area. By the end of the doctoral degree programme, students will have planned and administered the treatments of extreme traumas, congenital deformities, and deformities needing complex reconstructions.

In order to maintain the level of plastic surgery in Turkey in the international area, and to make it more advanced, it is important for sustaining continuous actual information exchange to encourage scientific research, scientific meetings, and to give lectures about the subgroups of plastic surgery, namely craniomaxillofacial surgery, microsurgery, hand surgery, trauma surgery,  congenital malformations, burn treatment, aesthetic surgery etc.

To reach a high level of scientific knowledge in these aforementioned subgroups of plastic surgery, it is necessary to encourage international information exchange, and to make contact with the national or international universities or hospitals well-known in their fields to benefit scientifically. In order for young plastic surgeons to be trained well, and to be good models and leaders for future generations, training circumstances should be improved to the international level. Supporting and defending professional issues legally and scientifically among plastic, reconstructive, aesthetic surgeons, planning training programmes for doctoral degree students beyond the level of the residency training in accordance with the modern methods of medical education, and contributing to the educational programmes have been targeted in this doctoral degree programme. 

D.12. Occupational Profiles of Graduates with Examples

So far, the Advanced Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Doctorate Program has been completed by 7 individuals. All of them continue their academic studies in various institutions.

D.13. Access to Further Studies

D.14. Profile of the Programme

This programme is held by the Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery and by the professors of other departments that are mentioned in course diagram.

D.15. Examination Regulations, Assessment and Grading

The measurement and evaluation methods applied for each course are defined in the ?Course Teaching Plan?, which is prepared by the relevant faculty member and included in the course information package. The relevant articles of the Hacettepe University Graduate Education-Examination and Examination Regulations are applied for the exams and course grades

D.16. Graduation Requirements

In order to complete all subjects in this program successfully (a total of 240 credits), students have to get 2.5 or higher scores for all subjects. Moreover, students have to be successful in their both thesis defenses and doctoral qualifications. http://www.saglikbilimleri.hacettepe.edu.tr/tr/menu/kanun_ve_yonetmelikler-219

D.17. Education Type

1. Full Time Education

D.18. Programme Director

Programme Director of this programme is the Chief of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Department of Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine.