Why a CEWIM in the first place?

The German medical curriculum suffers from a missing reference to practical experience, or this is what the majority of graduates reported. In a survey of more than 4.000 alumni carried out by the Center of University Development in Guetersloh (www.che.de/downloads/AP57_Anhang_213.pdf) they scored only 4.4 (!) (on a 6-point scale: “1” – very good; “6” – very bad) on training of “clinical and practical abilities“. Many of the drop-out medical students in Germany also reported this to be one of the main reasons for dropping out, since they felt there was a lack of practical experience during the university course. Additionally, the „practical year“ in which medical students are supposed to gain some more practical skills before the end of their university course, is regarded critically by many students
(www.thieme.de/viamedici/index.html). According to a number of regular surveys they feel misused as cheap labor, insufficiently prepared for the tasks awaiting them and also they feel the practical year was more of a hindrance and made them doubt their motivation for the medical profession.

The German law in medical education (“Approbationsordnung”) which came into force in 2002 was supposed to address this issue and to provide a stronger focus on practical experience during medical university training. However, putting theory into practice turned out to be quite difficult. The training of future colleagues and the supply of medical care to clinical patients compete with the limited amount of time which confronts clinicians. Often the training suffers by being a last priority and thus students are used mainly for care assistance. This is why medical students often perceive their role as that of a passive observer or as a welcome assisting aid for simple tasks during surgeries. Therefore, structured clinical lectures, bedside teaching and clinical supervision during the initial stages of the medical profession are more of an exception.

At the CEWIM, teaching and medical patient care do not compete with each other but support and complement each other. Students assume all tasks of the physician on a ward – according to their abilities. This way the physician has sufficient time to guide and supervise the young colleagues. Classes in the CEWIM take place according to medical cases on the wards; case-based  questions concerning results such as ECG, X-ray and so on are discussed with specialists. Learning takes place on the basis of these questions, and at the same time students may use the acquired knowledge in the medical care of their patients.