The implementation of the elective subject "Public Health" in the final year for medical students at Göttingen University Medical Center: results of the UNITE project

Abstract

International and national frameworks and initiatives call for strengthening the training of health professionals in the public health service (PHS) through cooperation with universities. The German Medical Licensing Regulations of 21st Sep 2021 provides for an integration of PHS into undergraduate medical training in the final year since 1st May 2022. The present study presents the procedure and results of the final year elective Public Health (PH) implementation for medical students at the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) in cooperation with the local PHS. In the twelve-month project UNITE (07/21-06/22), the final year elective PH was implemented in seven steps: analysis of the framework conditions, conception of the elective, preparation of a logbook, pilot phase with five students in one-week rotations, public relations for students, introduction of a medical didactic training for staff of the health department and implementation of the elective PHS with students. A cooperation agreement between UMG and the Health Department regulates the training of medical students. Students complete four-week rotations in the areas of public health service and funeral services, paediatric and adolescent medical service, infection control and social psychiatric service. The logbook for students contains learning objectives for individuals specialised in services for self-assessment of the acquired competences. The didactics training was implemented with high learning success of the participating staff. So far three final year students have successfully completed the elective. The implementation of final year elective PHS strengthens the anchoring of public health topics in the education of medical students in Göttingen and makes PHS more visible as a professional perspective. Essential for the successful implementation were the establishment of a continuous cooperation between the university and the health department, student-oriented teaching-learning concept with a logbook suitable for the location, a trained multiprofessional team in the health department, and the evaluation of the elective for quality assurance and further development of the training. The concept presented here can help other locations in establishing the final year elective in PH and can be adapted to specific local conditions.