About MTA Dialog

MTA Dialog

MTA Dialog — published today as MT im Dialog, "the trade journal of the medical technologists" — is the German professional journal for the medical-technology professions, appearing monthly with twelve issues a year. As the official organ (Mitteilungsorgan) of the Dachverband für Technologinnen und Technologen und Analytikerinnen und Analytiker in der Medizin Deutschland e. V. (DVTA), it serves the medical technologists (formerly: medizinisch-technische Assistenten, MTA), the laboratory physicians, radiologists, clinical chemists, and teachers. In its 27th year in 2026 — which places the first issue in 2000 — the journal combines the specialist articles on examination methods and medical-technology developments with the association's news, the professional-policy reporting, and an extensive job market. The mtdialog.de portal extends the monthly print journal into the daily news, the event calendar, and the certified continuing-education credits. In the German health-professions press, MT im Dialog is the technologists' journal: the monthly companion of the laboratory and radiology professionals.

Overview

The journal presents itself, in its media data's title portrait, as "MT im Dialog – Die Fachzeitschrift der Medizinischen Technologinnen und Technologen" — the trade journal of the medical technologists, and the communication organ of the DVTA. Its editorial program covers the profession's full spectrum: the specialist articles on examination methods and current developments in medical technology and diagnostics — the laboratory analytics, the radiology, the functional diagnostics; the contributions on training, professional policy, and labor law — the education pathways, the tariff agreements, the professional recognition; and the magazine mix — the interviews, portraits, continuing-education offers, experience reports, service offerings, and the extensive job market (Stellenmarkt).

The readership is the German medical-technology professions in their organized core: the medical technologists (MT) — the laboratory, radiology, functional-diagnostics, and veterinary technologists; the laboratory physicians and radiologists; the clinical chemists; and the teachers of the MT schools. The journal's authority rests on its association anchoring: as the DVTA's organ, it reaches the profession's members directly, and its editorial content is written for the practitioners — the technologists at the bench, at the imaging console, and in the classroom.

The monthly rhythm — twelve issues a year — provides the regular professional briefing; the mtdialog.de portal delivers the daily news from medicine, health policy, and industry; the weekly newsletter (once a week, except calendar week 52) summarizes the week's topics; and the certified continuing-education articles offer the credits for the voluntary DIW-MTA continuing-education certificate.

History

The journal's history is tied to the medical-technology professions' professionalization. The DVTA — the umbrella association of the technologists and analysts in medicine — and its predecessor organizations built the professional representation; the journal emerged as the organ that carries the association's communications and the profession's specialist journalism. The 27th volume in 2026 dates the journal's founding to 2000 — the turn of the millennium, when the MTA professions' continuing-education and professional-policy agenda took its modern form.

The profession's renaming — from "medizinisch-technische Assistenten" (MTA) to "medizinische Technologen" (MT) — is reflected in the journal's title evolution: from MTA Dialog to MT im Dialog. The renaming, driven by the profession's academicization and the new MT-Berufe-Gesetz (medical technologists act), upgraded the professional title; the journal followed, becoming "Die Fachzeitschrift der Medizinischen Technologinnen und Technologen." The earlier Hoppenstedt-era MTA Dialog (Darmstadt) — the client of the 2009 MTA study by Institut Prof. Riegl & Partner on the profession's self-image — belongs to the journal's earlier publishing history.

The journal's current publishing home is the Deutscher Ärzteverlag (German Medical Publishers) in Cologne — Dieselstraße 2, 50859 Köln — the medical publishing house that also publishes the Deutsches Ärzteblatt. The editorial leadership (per the 2026 media data): the Schriftleitung (editors-in-chief) Christiane Maschek and Claudia Rössing (Spaldingstr. 110B, 20097 Hamburg); the Redaktion (editorial office) Ludwig Zahn at the Deutscher Ärzteverlag. The product management — Sabine Bosch, Ludwig Zahn, Petra Paul, Ingrid Schaper — handles the journal's commercial program.

Coverage and Content

The journal's coverage follows the medical technologist's professional world. Specialist articles on examination methods form the core: the laboratory diagnostics — the clinical chemistry, hematology, microbiology, and histology methods; the radiology — the imaging procedures, the radiation protection, the interventional techniques; the functional diagnostics — the neurophysiology, audiology, pneumology, and cardiology measurements; and the current developments in medical technology and diagnostics — the automation, the digitalization, the point-of-care testing.

Professional-policy and training articles provide the career knowledge: the education and training pathways — the MT schools, the academization, the bachelor's programs; the professional policy — the DVTA's advocacy, the tariff agreements (such as the historic agreement that gave hospital trainees their first training allowance), the staffing and the working conditions; and the labor law — the employment contracts, the working-time regulations, and the professional rights. The magazine mix — interviews with the profession's personalities, portraits of the workplaces, continuing-education offers, experience reports from the practice, and the service offerings — gives the journal its readability.

The extensive job market (Stellenmarkt) — in print and online — is the journal's commercial and professional hub: the hospitals, laboratories, and radiology practices recruiting the technologists. The certified continuing-education articles (zertifizierte Fortbildungsbeiträge) offer the credits for the voluntary DIW-MTA certificate — the journal as the profession's continuing-education provider. The DIW-MTA — the Deutsches Institut zur Weiterbildung für Technologen/-innen und Analytiker/-innen in der Medizin, founded in Berlin in 1967 — is the profession's continuing-education institution; the journal's certified articles connect the monthly reading with the formal qualification.

The journal's professional-policy reporting documents the profession's advances: the tariff agreements, the academization, the new professional legislation — the monthly chronicle of the medical technologists' professionalization.

Organization and Ownership

MT im Dialog (MTA Dialog) is published by the Deutscher Ärzteverlag GmbH in Cologne — the medical publishing house behind the Deutsches Ärzteblatt. The journal is the official organ of the Dachverband für Technologinnen und Technologen und Analytikerinnen und Analytiker in der Medizin Deutschland e. V. (DVTA) — the umbrella association of the medical technologists and analysts. The editorial leadership: Schriftleitung Christiane Maschek and Claudia Rössing; Redaktion Ludwig Zahn (Deutscher Ärzteverlag, Dieselstraße 2, 50859 Köln).

The journal's institutional structure — the DVTA organ — gives it the association's distribution: the members receive the journal, and the members and subscribers have free access to the ePaper and unrestricted access to all online content. The commercial model is that of an association-anchored professional journal: subscriptions and association distribution, advertising from the diagnostics and medical-technology industry, the job-market advertising (print and online), and the continuing-education and event offerings.

Digital Presence

The journal's digital home is mtdialog.de — the responsive website that complements the monthly print journal. The portal delivers the daily news from medicine, health policy, and industry; the event calendar (Veranstaltungskalender); and the online job market (Online-Stellenmarkt). The certified continuing-education articles offer the credits for the voluntary DIW-MTA certificate online; the weekly newsletter (once a week, except week 52) summarizes the current topics; and the ePaper gives the members and subscribers the digital print edition with unrestricted content access.

The Deutscher Ärzteverlag's digital infrastructure — the medical publishing house's portals, including the Ärzteblatt's networks — forms the ecosystem in which the journal's content circulates. The DVTA's association channels — the professional representation's communications — extend the journal's reach into the organized profession. In print and online, MT im Dialog remains the technologists' journal: the monthly specialist and professional companion of Germany's medical technologists, in its 27th year. From the MTA Dialog of the Hoppenstedt era to the MT im Dialog of the Deutscher Ärzteverlag, the journal has accompanied the profession's transformation — from the assistive occupation to the academicized medical technology profession — and continues to serve as the DVTA's organ, the practitioners' specialist journal, and the profession's continuing-education platform, every month.