International teaching formats

The aim of the four-week program at LMU is to acquaint students with everyday routines in an neurology hospital. The mornings are taken up with ward visits and teaching rounds, in the afternoons the students attend seminars from a wide range of specialist disciplines and learn from leading experts. The courses also feature clinical case discussions, lab visits and workshops on topics such as Breaking Bad News. Each incoming student is paired with a Study Buddy from LMU to help them settle in as well as to assist on the wards. Along with clinical training and insights into research at LMU and the German healthcare system, the participants can look forward to an interesting accompanying and social program in and around Munich. The courses can count toward the clinical elective (Famulatur) for LMU students.

Issues for consideration include:

• Principles of neurology and neural science
• Intersections with neurosurgery, neuroradiology and psychiatry
• Methods of diagnosis and treatment

The international students choose a field of interest for patient contact and rounds and integrate into our medical team during the entire course of the Winter School. They hospitalize patients and discuss the anamnesis of physical examination and test results as well as the adequate treatment with their respective ward doctors or consultants.

Furthermore, specific tutorials are held which instruct the students how to discuss clinical cases in a problem-oriented and cooperative manner. Small group training sessions and seminars involve diagnostic tools in neurology, interpersonal communication, e.g. "Breaking Bad News", simulations based on standardized patients and other elements of the medical professional’s skill set.

Taught by eminent medical specialists, the students also receive invaluable help from their German "study buddies"-

On weekends, there’s time to relax and enjoy what Munich and its surroundings have to offer: Students go on skiing trips together, attend a concert or a ballet, view the paintings in the Pinakothek, or visit nearby attractions such as Neuschwanstein Castle and the city of Nuremberg.

Target group / prerequisites

The elective addresses senior medical students, particularly those from LMU partner universities, who attend this four-week rotation together with senior medical students from LMU.

A "study buddy" from LMU is assigned to each participant from abroad, and helps to pilot his or her partner through the complexities of hospital practice.

Upon completion of the elective, a course certificate is granted to international and LMU students. In addition, a certificate as an internship ("Zeugnis über die Tätigkeit als Famulus/Famula") is granted to LMU students.

Language of tuition

English

2025 course dates

• Arrival international students: March 3 (!)*
• Course start: March 4 (!)*
• Course end: March 28
• Departure international students: March 30

*due to difficulties in planning the housing, arrival can, unfortunately, only take place on March 3 (monday), the official start of the programm will, thus, take place on tuesday, March 4. We are sorry for the inconvenience.
Also therefore, in the evening of March 3 there will be a small welcome event, while the traditional welcome dinner will take place that weekend (March 7 or 8). Further details will follow.

Maximum number of participants

10 (including LMU students)

Fees

• 200 € administrative fee: non-refundable
• 320 € tuition fee: students from LMU partner universities are eligible to apply for a Tuition Waiver
• 520 € housing fee (single apartment with ensuite bathroom and kitchen)

Fees are due upon acceptance for the Program. Cancellation policy
Participation is free for LMU students.

Fees include

• Academic program
• Excursions (Munich sightseeing tour by bus, Neuschwanstein castle, Dachau concentration camp memorial site)
• Student residence (single room with ensuite bathroom and kitchen)
• Welcome evening and welcome dinner (exceptionally, two different occasions)
• Public transport ticket

Application

The application process for the 2025 edition of the Winter Schools will start in the week of September 9.
The exact date will be announced shortly.

Procedure for international and LMU (PDF, 124 KB)

Director: Prof. Dr. med. Konstantinos Dimitriadis

Please send us an email if you are interested in the program so that we can provide further details or answer questions you may have: international.office@med.lmu.de

Programmed for practice

Under the direction of experienced faculty members, the students are taken through a challenging but highly stimulating learning program. They spend the first part of the day on the oncology wards, learning the daily routines, accompanying patients from reception through diagnostic procedures to therapy sessions. The afternoons are taken up with courses on the latest diagnostic methods or therapeutic approaches, and discussion of individual case studies in small groups.
In addition, they work with actors on aspects of problem-oriented communication, a vital element of the medical professional’s skill set. This gives them the opportunity to learn how to handle tasks such as breaking bad news to a patient or helping patients to cope with their fears as they face the prospect of stressful treatments.
As well as getting to know the day-to-day routines on the wards, the students are introduced to clinical laboratory work, familiarize themselves with radiology or hyperthermia, try their hand at image-based functional diagnostics and attend the weekly oncological review conducted by the staff specialists at the Medical Center.
Taught by eminent medical specialists, they also receive invaluable help from their German "study buddies".
On weekends, there’s time to relax and enjoy what Munich and its surroundings have to offer: Students go on skiing trips together, attend a concert or a ballet, view the paintings in the Pinakothek, or visit nearby attractions such as Neuschwanstein Castle and the city of Nuremberg.

Target group / prerequisites

The elective addresses senior medical students, particularly those from LMU partner universities, who attend this four-week rotation together with senior medical students from LMU.
A "study buddy" from LMU is assigned to each participant from abroad, and helps to pilot his or her partner through the complexities of hospital practice.
Upon completion of the elective, a course certificate is granted to international and LMU students. In addition, a certificate as an internship ("Zeugnis über die Tätigkeit als Famulus/Famula") is granted to LMU students.

Language of tuition: English

2025 course dates

• Arrival international students: March 3 (!)*
• Course start: March 4 (!)*
• Course end: March 28
• Departure international students: March 30

*due to difficulties in planning the housing, arrival can, unfortunately, only take place on March 3 (monday), the official start of the programm will, thus, take place on tuesday, March 4. We are sorry for the inconvenience.
Also therefore, in the evening of March 3 there will be a small welcome event, while the traditional welcome dinner will take place that weekend (March 7 or 8). Further details will follow.

Maximum number of participants: 20 (including LMU students)

Fees

• 200 € administrative fee: non-refundable
• 320 € tuition fee: students from LMU partner universities are eligible to apply for a Tuition Waiver
• 520 € housing fee (single apartment with ensuite bathroom and kitchen)

Fees are due upon acceptance for the Program.

Cancellation policy: If you wish to cancel, please contact us immediately. Please be advised that a 200 € administrative fee will be deducted for all cancellations.

If you notify us at least 4 weeks before the start of the course, 100% of your tuition payment will be refunded. If accommodation has been booked, the deposit for the rent may not be refundable.
If you notify us less than 4 weeks before the start of the course, 50% of your tuition payment will be refunded. If accommodation has been booked, the deposit for the rent is not refundable.
If you notify us 3 days before the start of the course, 20% of your tuition payment will be refunded. If accommodation has been booked, the housing fee will is not refundable.
No refund will be made if you withdraw after the course has begun.

Participation is free for LMU students.
Fees include

• Academic program
• Excursions (Munich sightseeing tour by bus, Neuschwanstein castle, Dachau concentration camp memorial site)
• Student residence (single room with ensuite bathroom and kitchen)
• Medical campus cafeteria vouchers
• Public transport ticket

ApplicationThe application process for the 2025 edition of the Winter Schools will start in the week of September 9.
The exact date will be announced shortly.

Procedure for international and LMU students (PDF, 124 KB)

Director: Prof. Dr. med. Martin Dreyling

Contact us: Please send us an email if you are interested in the program so that we can provide further details or answer questions you may have: international.office@med.lmu.de

In this online course, students learn and practice structured and comprehensive methods of collecting a patient’s medical history. Since each teaching unit is accompanied by experienced clinicians from various disciplines at LMU and the international network universities, the students have an opportunity to discuss cases in a differentiated manner. In addition to purely medical topics, the course also covers such subjects as Equal Opportunities, Intercultural Communication. Additional peer-teaching groups cultivate a dialogue between medical students. Among other things the course offers ideal preparation for OSCEs.

Aim

In 70–80% of cases, a diagnosis can be arrived at from the medical history if it is taken correctly, and possibly painful and costly tests are avoided. Learning how to filter important facts from the patient's narrative requires a great deal of practice. This course will teach you how to get there.

Innovative, international teaching formats

“At times, the pandemic made global dialogue very difficult. But at the same time, it opened up new possibilities,” says program leader Professor Orsolya Genzel-Boroviczény. After having to move many events onto the Internet during the lockdown, she had the idea of a virtual course on the subject of ‘History Taking’. That course is now being organized worldwide together with partner universities in Bari, Italy, and St. Louis, USA. The international exchange students at LMU can earn credit points if they pass a non-obligatory short exam at the end of the program.

The course looks at specific ways to take down patients’ medical histories. “It is difficult to teach physical examinations online,” Professor Genzel-Boroviczény admits. “But for budding doctors, communication is just as essential as technical skills in the operating theater. And we also benefit here from the international community.”

Intercultural communication in the operating theater

The course addresses standard questions that are important when diagnosing an illness, for example. But it also tackles the difficulties that must be overcome when asking about the patient’s history. Special characteristics of children and young people are explored, as are gender-specific questions and racist thought patterns that could hinder a correct diagnosis. The focus is also on intercultural communication: After all, how patients deal with different health-related topics and how they respond to sensitive questions varies all over the world. Innovative teaching formats such as the ‘History Taking’ course broaden the spectrum of offerings that cultivate dialogue between medical students.

“Not everyone can go abroad while a student,” Genzel-Boroviczény says. “This makes it even more rewarding that there are now new opportunities to sign up for international courses despite that and to learn from colleagues from all over the world.”

Content

So that students around the world and from the international universities involved can participate, training and communication workshops take place in late afternoon, Central European Time, throughout the summer semester.

The following subjects from various specialist disciplines form the basis for this and offer an opportunity for practice:

• Introduction and general history taking
• How to present a patient
• Leading symptoms
• Chest pain
• Neurology – what if the brain fails?
• Pediatric and adolescent medicine: "My child is sick", "My parents dragged me here"
• Questions we don’t want to ask: Obtaining a sexual history, History taking for haemorrhoids
• Joints and Skeleton
• Gynecology
• Skin complaints: rashes, itches, spots

Medicine and Culture

Medicine does not happen in a vacuum but rather integrated into society in general. It thus reflects society in both its strengths and weaknesses. In this lecture, we will review how different cultures view the same pathology, how some cultures seem to invent pathologies, what diversity means for medical caregivers and evidence for structural racism in medicine. This lecture does not offer solutions but rather presents data and information that can form the foundation for reflection and discussion which may lead to insightful medical care in increasing global societies.

Workshops

• Overcoming cultural and linguistic barriers in patient interactions
• How to give feedback
• How to efficiently communicate with other physicians

Simulation game (will, unfortunately, not take place during 2024's History Taking. We are terribly sorry for the inconvenience!)

(The simulation game is a role-playing game between the students from all the universities participating.
In the context of a game, the students are expected to act as a team and deal with patient cases. They not only play the role of doctors, but also of the patients, their family, nurses and observers. The roles are allocated at random by drawing lots in advance.
The students will spend time together in two meetings in a virtual emergency department specifically tailored to the game. The aim of the first meeting is to practice talking through medical histories, time management, and presenting patient cases to the group. In the second simulation game the focus is on Breaking Bad News and conducting difficult conversations. Both simulations involve practicing constructive feedback and error management. The game is intended to provide the students with a protected space in which to try things out, to reflect on mistakes where applicable and, as future doctors, to develop a better empathy for future patients, their families and colleagues in interprofessional teams.)

History taking in the host country´s language

One part of the course involves peer teaching and gives students a chance to improve their language skills and to develop intercultural awareness.
Students will be paired to practice in their exchange country´s language. For example an Italian student with a German student. The "patient" speaks his/her native language, the "physician" the patient´s language. This is excellent preparation for Erasmus Students for their actual stay in the other country.

This course is also a preparation for the USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Exam) Step 1 to 3, where history taking is an important part.

Course dates 2024

Wednesdays, 5 pm Munich time, around 90 minutes
(times may vary for one or the other session, will be communicated in advance)

May 15 –July 17

ECTS credits: 3 (Only if participants pass a non-obligatory, short, short exam at the end of the program. Otherwise, only a participation certificate will be issued, if participants were present throughout the program.)

Application

All students need to apply no later than May 5, 2024 using the LMU Application Service.

Documents to be submitted:

• CV
• Most recent official Transcript of Records

Students from Munich, Bari and St. Louis have priority for admission.

Program Director: Caroline Plett

Contact us: international.office@med.uni-muenchen.de

For students from Munich and our partnering universities in the US (Weill Cornell Medical College/ NY and Washington University/ St. Louis) and from the GAME consortium, the annual two-week intensive "International Clinical Case Discussion Summer School", organized in collaboration with TU Munich, offers an unparalleled opportunity to develop your clinical reasoning skills while having fun and connecting with other medical students. more

IPOKRaTES Students organizes Bedside Teaching Seminars according to Anglo-American standards together with dedicated lecturers from renowned universities.
A seminar lasts one week and takes place during lecture-free periods. In the past, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics in particular were the main topics, and participating students gained knowledge and skills in recording medical histories, performing physical examinations and presenting patient cases from the ward. In addition, associated clinical cases from the New England Journal of Medicine are presented and discussed together. more