Curriculum psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy in medical education - Concept, implementation, evaluation

Many medical schools endeavor to improve teaching in the disciplines of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy. This article describes the teaching methods for teaching psychosomatic and psychotherapeutic fundamentals and how they are applied in practice. The best possible learning effect is achieved by coordinating training and learning goals, contents and methods and the general environment of the discipline. The 1-week block course is part of a 7-week block on,The Nervous System and the Psyche". The contents and practical exercises are designed to enable students to continuously improve their knowledge and their practical skills during the course. The focus is on psychological relations with somatic illnesses, improvement of the doctor's interviewing techniques, the importance of the doctor-patient relationship, and the most important emotional and psychosomatic disorder patterns such as anxiety and depressive reaction when being informed about a life-threatening disease, somatoform disorders and eating disorders. The practical Course, including lectures, was rated 1.6 (on a scale of 1 - 5 with 1 being the best and 5 the worst grade) in the last two semesters. The patient live interviews and the use of actors Simulating patients for practice interviews were particularly well received. A description of the implementation difficulties and tasks for the future is included.