Diana Haliyash, TNMU 6th-year student of the Faculty of Medicine, participated in the International Clinical Case Discussion Summer School (ICDSS) 2023, which took place on October 2-13, 2023 in Germany with the financial support of DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service). The event was organized by the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) (Munich) and the Technical University (TUM) (Munich). The initiative to involve TNMU students in this school belongs to our partners in the “Ukraine digital” project – colleagues from the Institute of Medical Didactics of the Ludwig Maximilian University.
This two-week intensive clinical discussion course aimed to:
- develop and improve students’ clinical thinking skills through discussion of complex clinical cases;
- adopt the experience of conducting clinical discussions from LMU and TUM students;
- share their own experience of studying in medical universities of Ukraine and study with medical students from different countries of the world;
- learn from clinical experts from Cornell, Washington, Nagoya universities, Ludwig Maximilian University, Technical University.
ICDSS participants were students from Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU), Technical University (TUM), Cornell University, Washington University in St. Louis (WashU), Nagoya University, Ternopil National Medical University, Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University, O.O. Bohomolets National Medical University, Kharkiv National Medical University, Bukovyna State Medical University, Mykola Pyrohov Vinnytsia National Medical University.
Students from Bukovyna State Medical University, Vinnytsia National Medical University, Kharkiv National Medical University, O. Bohomolets National Medical University, Ternopil National Medical University.
During the first week of the international summer school, which took place at the University Hospital of the Technical University of Munich (Klinikum rechts der Isar der Technischen Universität München), the following clinical cases were considered:
- Cerebellar form of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease
- Chronic Salicylate Toxicity
- Aspiration pneumonia
- Takotsubo cardiomyopathy
- Fusariosis
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy most likely due to Fabry’s disease. Fabry’s disease.
- Cat scratch disease (encephalopathy associated with Bartonella henselae).
- Toxoplasma gondii encephalitis in the context of human immunodeficiency virus type 2 infection and associated acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
Signet-ring-cell carcinoma of the stomach with widespread metastases, including leptomeningeal carcinomatosis.
During the clinical cases discussion.
During the following week, the participants studied at the University Hospital of the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU Klinikum Campus Großhadern), where the following clinical cases were discussed:
- ANCA-associated vasculitis
- Inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s disease)
- Malignant atrophic papulosis (Degos’s disease) in a patient with dermatomyositis
- Acute CMV with HIV infection and HIV-associated nephropathy
- Leptospirosis
- Susac’s syndrome (retinocochleocerebral vasculopathy).
A small trip to the Bavarian Alps was organized for the ICDSS participants, during which they had the opportunity to communicate in an informal atmosphere, and it also brought them together as a team.
Participants of ICDSS 2023 with Professor Dr. Michael Rauchman and Professor Dr. Mark Pecker during a hike in the Bavarian Alps.
As part of the summer school, two faculty dinners were organized, where participating students could talk with deans of faculties and professors, teachers and doctors who participated in clinical case discussions.
Diana Haliyash expresses her appreciation to the teachers of Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) for the opportunity to participate in ICDSS-2023; to the organizers from the Technical University (TUM) for the gained experience of conducting discussions of clinical cases and the chance to communicate with professors and students of different universities, to learn the peculiarities of the educational process in medical universities of different countries. Also, much appreciation is conveyed to student organizers Aurelia Zodl, Elena Nikolova, Kilian Lischeid, who made incredible efforts to ensure that all participants had an informative and interesting time in Munich.
Thanks to the knowledge and experience gained while participating in the International Clinical Case Discussion Summer School (ICDSS) 2023, Diana Haliyash plans to implement this format for the analysis of clinical cases at our university in the future. She believes that this will help students to improve their clinical thinking skills, to get acquainted with rare pathologies that are not found in educational programs, and also to improve communication between students of different specialties.
The information was provided by Diana Haliyash.
Photographs by the author.