The development of the internal medicine courses at Hannover Medical School from 2001 to 2018

Aim: The subject-based model curriculum at the Hannover Medical School (MHH) is characterized by two major features: early and continuous contact with patients and the interconnection of theoretical and clinical content. The progressive adaptations to the internal medicine curriculum which is taught longitudinally over five years are presented. Methods: Looking back on 17 years of experience with our model curriculum and the events leading to its inception, we summarize the challenges and subsequent modifications to the longitudinal internal medicine curriculum. Some of these challenges are likely to occur in other subjects and can therefore be generalized. Results: Integrating preclinical and clinical content was more resource intensive than thought and unexpectedly led to capacity problems since the German courts ruled that the presence of more teachers brought with it an obligation to enroll more students. In response to this, teaching responsibilities were extended to both outpatient facilities and academic teaching hospitals. Major changes included a more even distribution of clinical content in the first year, a rigorous standardization of teaching content in clinical skills, increased adaptation of content to reflect prior knowledge in the third and fourth years, and a focus on clinical reasoning in the fifth year. Restructuring the academic year into three ten-week blocks (two in the winter term and one in the summer term) allowed the retention of small groups. Conclusion: These measures rely heavily on considering teaching responsibilities within rotation plans, curriculum development and continuous faculty engagement. Since teachers are not sufficiently familiar with the distinctions between teaching formats, they mostly consider how far students have advanced in their studies when choosing course content. This implies that the current nomenclature requires improvement.