Today’s and Tomorrow’s Medicine

The teaching of medicine today shall be the medicine of tomorrow. Teachers are responsible for unravelling the great treatises of medicine, debugging their excesses, and offer them to students in the form of subtle works of art so that they can be appreciated and understood. As for students, they are responsible for fostering the interest and knowledge of the art, as well as for improving it. To improve means to identify gaps and fill them. It is in this context that the Twinning Project comes about: to bridge a gap of yesterday’s medicine – that of a medicine restricted in space. The world has become globalised, expanded and without physical borders. The only borders that still exist are those created among people. The nuclear disaster in Japan is proof of this, and it is a real public health problem that requires a global response, in which everyone has a duty and a role to play. Therefore, today’s medicine needs to be taught so that it can cope with the world’s globalisation. The Twinning Project is one opportunity to build communication bridges between medical students and future doctors from distinct countries.

Berlin: the socio-cultural experience 

This academic year, the Twinning Project of the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon embraced German culture at its epicentre: Berlin. For a week between 27 February and 6 March, our group had the opportunity to discover, step by step, the characteristics of the city, its history, culture and pulse. In order to understand the fruitful relationship developed in this cultural “embrace”, suffice to mention the historical richness of this city. What was once the medieval twin cities of Berlin/Cölln, first referenced in a document in 1237 – became the centre of power of the House of Hohenzollern, then the capital of Prussia, and, after the founding of the German empire in 1871, the city entered a period of major development which allowed its growth into a true metropolis. Still, although the historical past of Berlin is extremely rich, the impression that most people retain of the city stems from the most significant events of the 20th century, ranging from the horrors of World War II, the Cold War and the building of the Berlin Wall, which stood for the division of the world between East and West, up to the unification of Germany with the fall of the wall in 1991.

Each of us shares a common story and a personal story of this experience. The common story lies in the group activities that we shared and which represent the union that developed among all of us: the activities included visits to the Campus of the University of Medicine of Berlin and to the Charité Hospital, to the Anatomical Theatre, the Medical Historical Museum with the famous preparations of Rudolf Virchow, the Story of Berlin Museum, the Museum Island and the Pergamonmuseum, the Reichstag, the Berliner Dom, the East Side Gallery, the Tiergarten, the World Time Clock in the historical AlexanderPlatz, the Brandenburger Tor, the Holocaust Memorial, the discovery of the Bunkers and the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, without forgetting, of course, all the moments of interaction spent during lunches at the university canteens and dinners in various places, dividing our palate between German cuisine and the almost inevitable MacDonald’s, depending o the day and time. The personal story of this Twinning Project goes beyond the trivial canvass of events and enters the realm of the interpersonal relations that were established between each member of the group and his/her “twin”, the person responsible for his/her stay in Berlin. We all stayed at different houses with different people, and, despite the cultural affinities among Germans, each of our hosts had distinct habits and routines. Experiencing this Twinning thus had a different impact on each of us. Nonetheless, we all realized the challenges that medical students in Berlin have to face, as well as the resources they have at their disposal to address them. We are now quite aware of what it is like to study today’s medicine in Berlin.

The differences and the similarities

It would be a gross negligence to go through this experience and not share, albeit briefly, the differences and the similarities between studying medicine in Lisbon and in Berlin. Obviously, the comparisons are very superficial and general, especially because what people like best is to enjoy the landscape as a whole and neglect the detailed analysis of all the elements that form it. For this reason, I am responsible for sharing what I saw and what, in my opinion, I found to be right. The first difference that stands out is the quality of the infrastructures in Berlin, ranging from the Charité Hospital, which is one of the largest in Europe, and the university canteens, which were both cosy and offered good quality food, to the building of the students’ association, the envy of our AEFML modest facilities, the Anatomical Theatre and the Medical Museum which, at the very least, are inspirational for anyone interest in the human body. And, of course, there is also the magnificent library of the Humboldt University of Berlin, where even the idlest student will acquire the necessary encouragement to study. However, if the grandeur of the facilities installs an attitude of rigour and discipline in students, the same cannot be said of the social and cultural life in Berlin, which offers a rich variety of experiences. Accordingly, studying in Berlin is to have the double opportunity to have a place to study with rigour and discipline and to have fun in an environment dominated by liberal thought. The similarities between studying medicine in Lisbon and in Berlin are all based on a straightforward principle and therefore very close to the truth: every medical student wants to become a doctor. And that common desire creates the similarities among medical students around the world. The path a medical student needs to travel before becoming a doctor is painfully slow. Therefore, as we go along, it is normal to give up things so that the journey becomes less heavy. However, the doubt that we often have is if we do not end up giving up a few things that may be necessary at any one point in our journey. It is true that we cannot do everything and, at the same time, know everything. Hence, as we go along, we need to know what we really want to do and keep with us until the end of the journey. Based on this challenge, we realize that the interests and concerns of medical students are, to a large extent, similar. The interest in wanting to be a doctor and the concern about being able to become a doctor are transversal. And that was the reason why it was easy to build connections between us, despite our cultural differences. This is because, deep down, only medical students can really understand each other.

Thus, at a given time, the Twinning Project represents the two sides of the same coin, that is, two countries that unite their differences to enhance the art of medicine.

Lisbon Medical Faculty Students’ Association (AEFML)
geral@aefml.ul