Seminar "Internal Medicine" 2019

Thursday, October 31st 2019

We started our trip to Tirana from Düsseldorf Airport in the morning. Johanna Büdding joined us in Vienna and we finally arrived together at Tirana Airport in the afternoon. From there we made our way to the hotel. After a little break we met with our Albanian co-tutors to get to know each other and to discuss the details of the seminar. We had three Albanian students who supported us with the organization of the weekend – Raela, Matteo and Zamira. They did the registrations of the Albanian participants and booked our hotel and the room at the university. After our meeting in the students café we got back to our accommodation in the early evening to start recovered and strengthened into the first seminar day.

Friday, November 1st 2019

After finishing our last preparations for the seminar on Friday morning we met Albanian tutors at the lecture hall to set up the room for the presentation. At 2 pm we started with the first part of our seminar with 45 participants: after a short introduction from Dr. Bergermann we opened up our program with the head and thyreoid gland, lymphatic system, vascular system and fluid balance. The doctors started each of the subjects with a short theoretical approach and demonstrated the practical examination for the audience. After that the students formed groups of 8 and practiced the skills under supervision of an educated tutor. At the beginning the Albanians were a little bit shy by doing the exercises at each other, but it got better after some time. As a take home message we prepared a script with all main contents of the subjects and handed it out. We finished the first day successfully at 6 pm and did a short debriefing during dinner.

Saturday, November 2nd 2019

On the next day we started at 9 am with the examination of the lungs and heart. As a special feature we brought some pathological sounds of both of them with us and played off some audio examples with a sound box. Dr. Hubertus Bergermann did a special analyzation of the development of the pathological heart valve tones with the help of some graphics. The third large topic of the day was the abdomen. Especially during this practice time the doctors passed around the groups and gave some individual tips. Afterwards the doctors made a general introduction of sonography. We first planned to integrate a little practical course for abdominal ultrasound, but unfortunately we didn’t get a device for rent because of the expensive insurance for it. Instead of that we extemporized with some ultrasound videos and detailed explanations by the doctors. The Albanian students told us about the great benefit for their future work routine, so we plan to keep that part for the next time – maybe with a real device.

When the seminar was finished we went to Raela’s home for stock taking of the materials we left there last time. This is important for the planning of the next seminar.

In the evening we all met at a traditional Albanian restaurant for deepening the friendship with the Albanian co-tutors and reflect the last two days. We had a great time and nice conversations. Back in the hotel we did the final plannings for our short practical test on Sunday.

Sunday, November 3rd 2019

For the examination day we had four different stations where the Albanian students could show what they’ve learned the past few days. For that reason we made some case examples for the heart, lungs, abdominal and vascular system. After their short performance the participants got some feedback from the supervisor of each station. At the end we begged every student to fill out an evaluation paper and everyone of them got a certificate for participation at our seminar. Also the tutors got a special certificate for their great commitment in our project.

Before we left to the airport we did some final group pictures and passed the seminar together in review. The co-tutors told us about the positive feedback they got from their fellow students and that they could image to assume more responsibility in the organization of the future seminars for internal medicine.

During our trip home we did a short analysis of the evaluation forms. Almost all of the students really enjoyed our seminar and had some great ideas to improve our work.Finally we have drawn a great conclusion and got back to Germany in a good mood.