Prof. Winfried Neuhuber, MD, FAU Senior Professor of Anatomy, explains:

“The way there leads you through a study of at least 6 years (12 semesters), during which you grow into this profession. During the first 4 semesters, the so-called “pre-clinic”, you will mainly deal with the scientific and theoretical basics of medicine, such as physics, chemistry and biochemistry, anatomy, physiology, but also medical psychology and sociology. The range of subjects of the entire medical studies and its course are regulated by law in the “Approbationsordnung”. In anatomy you learn to look closely at the structures of the human body and to describe them, either with the naked eye in the dissection course or through the microscope in the histology course. Physiology and Biochemistry teach you the basics for understanding body functions, from molecules to organ systems. In medical psychology and sociology, you learn to reflect on the relationship between doctor and patient, among other things, and also practice interviewing a patient. In the fourth semester, before the “Physikum”, the first section of the medical examination, you learn the simple physical examination techniques and the use of some important examination instruments, for example the stethoscope and reflex hammer. You practice on yourself or on fellow students, but also partly on patients. The learning-intensive preparation time for the Physikum serves to summarize and repeat all the individual knowledge that you have acquired in this pre-clinical study section. The Physikum is held uniformly throughout Germany as a written and oral examination.

By passing the “Physikum”, you prove that you have mastered the basics that are necessary for understanding the development (pathogenesis), recognition (diagnosis) and treatment (therapy) of the diseases of your future patients. In the following clinical study section, which comprises 6 semesters, you will gain an insight into the theory of disease (pathology), the theory of drugs (pharmacology) and all the clinical subjects in which this knowledge is used for diagnosis and therapy, such as internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, ophthalmology, etc.; the variety of medical specialties will meet you, for example, during a walk through your hometown by the practice signs of established doctors. You will study these different subjects in lectures and practical courses at the bedside as well as in “Famulaturen”, apprenticeship periods in a hospital or the practice of a family doctor. Of course, you will also use textbooks, exercises on models and “phantoms” and various computer-based virtual learning methods to solve more and more practical tasks. You will also be increasingly confronted with questions on the border of life and death and learn to think about how to answer them. You will also have the opportunity to learn about medicine in other cultures and parts of the world through stays abroad. Since medical studies are very densely organised, but there is enough room for other activities in some semesters and during the lecture-free time, you will also have the opportunity to find a topic for a doctoral thesis in order to experience the arduous process of scientific research and discovery for yourself.

After these six clinical semesters, in which a large number of individual examinations (written examinations) have to be taken, the written part of the second medical examination is due, the state examination, which is again conducted uniformly throughout Germany. After successfully completing the examination, you will enter the practical year (PJ), during which you will spend one third of the time each applying, practising and deepening your knowledge and skills in a clinic for surgery, internal medicine and an additional subject of your choice. After the PJ, you will take the oral part of the state examination as a bedside exam and then receive your “Approbation”. This entitles you for specific further training in a clinical or theoretical subject of medicine and is the beginning of your fully responsible life as a doctor.

The students in the study program Medicine Erlangen/Bayreuth start their courses in Erlangen and relocate to the clinical stage of the program, exactly between the first an the second clinical semester, from Erlangen to Bayreuth to complete their studies at the Upper Franconia Medical Campus.

Fascination with the scientific basis of human life in health and disease
Intellectual curiosity with special interest in interrelationships of observations
Interest in a wide variety of subjects
Integrity and honesty
Self-discipline and diligence
Psychological resilience

The framework for medical training at the Upper Franconia Medical Campus is provided by the Erlangen/Bayreuth medical program of Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). FAU is one of the major research universities in Germany. It comprises five faculties, over 260 courses of study and around 40,000 students.

The hallmark of the Erlangen-Nuremberg/Bayreuth Medicine program is clinical training at the Upper Franconia Medical Campus under the responsibility of the FAU Medical Faculty in cooperation with the Bayreuth Clinic. The training in the first stage of studies for students of both medical programs is mainly carried out together at the Erlangen location.

Only two preclinical courses, the internship “Berufsfelderkundung” (vocational field exploration, 2nd semester) and the internship “Einführung in die klinische Medizin” (4th semester), already take place at the Bayreuth Clinic. The events take place in blocks.

Depending on your specialization, you can work as a doctor in the various clinics of a hospital (e.g. anesthesiology, orthopedics) or as a doctor in private practice. In addition, you can also find work, for example, with ambulance and rescue services, in the State Public Health Service, with large companies as a company doctor and in medical research.