Verh Dtsch Ges Pathol. 2001 ; 85(): 55-9.

[What does the medical student learn in pathology in Germany, China and the USA?]

Wichmann O.

Medizinische Fakultät der Universität Rostock.

From the point of view of a medical student who studied at a couple of universities in Germany, one semester at a medical school in the USA, and who was involved in an exchange-program with a Chinese university, the importance of pathology as a main part of the medical course is stressed.--In Germany and the USA, pathology is a central subject in the medical course studies. After studying how the human body functions correctly (anatomy, physiology etc.), the medical student learns the pathological basics of diseases. Then clinical training, including electives or rotations, starts, where the student enters clinical settings and learns how to treat these diseases. As medicine is going to be more and more specialized, this will sooner or later also have consequences on the system of medical teaching. In the USA, for example, it is to a certain extent possible to specialize during clinical rotations already. For this reason, pathology is going to be even more important in the future.--In China there are two medical systems that exist independently: Our so-called Western Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine. The biggest difference in traditional medicine seems to be that diseases are treated without any (western) knowledge of their pathological background, but with the empirical knowledge of 5000 years of Chinese Medicine (so-called "black-box-system").--In conclusion, pathology is fundamental to the understanding of diseases in humans in Western Medicine. The facts taught are, of course, the same everywhere. There are differences as far as the teaching methods are concerned, both between the different countries and within Germany. Most important is the attitude of both medical students and teaching staff.