More than 180 practices in north-west Germany are helping to train future doctors from Oldenburg. A former student now works in her former training practice - and passes on her knowledge.
Anyone doing an internship in the group practice of GP Dr Markus Ennen in Schortens during their medical studies will sometimes find themselves sitting at a private lunch table with him, his wife, who also works as a doctor in the practice, and the couple's two children. "We also teach the life around it," says the 55-year-old. In addition to specialist knowledge, he also wants to teach the medical students from Oldenburg, for example, that it is easy to balance a practice and a family.
Ennen's group practice is one of more than 180 practices in which medical students from Oldenburg visit several times during their training phases in hospitals. The network of teaching practices stretches from Emsland to Lüneburg and from the Osnabrück region to the North Sea coast. Students can even complete internships in three island practices on Norderney, Spiekeroog and Wangerooge. The supervising GPs often also offer them overnight accommodation - or, as in the case of Markus Ennen, even a family connection.
Applying what they have learnt immediately
Once a year, the GPs meet for the Teaching Doctors' Day at the University of Oldenburg - not least because training courses for both new and long-standing network members take place here. The network and the training courses for members are organised by Prof. Dr Michael Freitag and his team. He is head of the Department of Health Services Research in the Division of General Practice. "The GPs are enthusiastic about our students, about what they already know and can do and how they communicate with patients," says Freitag. Students learn to link the content taught at university with real life. "That increases motivation," Freitag is convinced.
He is constantly looking for new members for the network, not only to compensate for practices that are closing due to age, but also to expand the network. After all, the number of medical students in Oldenburg is growing. In the winter semester 22/23, 120 students started for the first time, and this number is set to rise to 200 in the future. In the first three years alone, they will do four one-week internships in GP practices, plus two weeks in the fourth or fifth year of study. Students who decide to spend part of their practical year in a GP practice will even be supervised for four months. "The partners in the network are therefore fundamentally important for the degree programme," says Freitag.
Today, Rike Geiken passes on her knowledge to students
The students from Oldenburg were in a doctor's surgery for the first time around ten weeks after starting the programme. "At the time, I felt I could only name a few bones of the human body correctly, and yet the first work shadowing was a complete success," recalls Rike Geiken. That first experience was eight years ago. She now works as a doctor in further education at the group practice for general and family medicine in Esens, a practice where she had already worked as a trainee. "It's a decision that I haven't regretted for a single day," Geiken assures us. "What appeals to me is that, as a GP, I can build particularly close doctor-patient relationships that often last for decades."
Forecasts by the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians in Lower Saxony (KVN) show just how urgently GPs like Markus Ennen and Rike Geiken are needed. According to these forecasts, the north-west of the Federal State, which is home to around 2.5 million people, urgently needs doctors in private practice. The situation with GP practices is particularly alarming. Around 1,400 additional GPs will be needed by 2030.
Practice training with passion, enthusiasm and commitment
For Ennen, it is therefore important that primary care gets the image he believes it deserves. "We need to show the good sides of the academic appointment with a broad chest and dispel the impression that we are forest and meadow doctors," he emphasises. "A good range of medical services is only available through the interplay of general practice and specialist services."
Rike Geiken has also experienced that GPs in training and further education advertise their profession. "The GP teaching physicians showed us students the importance and advantages of their academic appointment with passion, enthusiasm and commitment -
of course also with the aim of ensuring future care." She was inspired and has been working in the East Frisian group practice since August 2021. There, she meets prospective doctors who are in the same situation as she was a few years ago. "I'm delighted when the students come to our practice and I can awaken their enthusiasm for this professional field."
