Ethics and history of medicine as scientific disciplines both contribute to a deeper understanding of medicine as a social practice and have a deeply interdisciplinary character. Medical ethics analyses ethical issues in patient care and biomedical research addressing a wide range of applied as well as theoretical topics. The history of medicine gives us the opportunity to understand and challenge cultural and social backgrounds of medical practice as well as the transition of conceptions regarding health and illness.
The academic teaching (since 2003 organised in the cross-sectional class “GTE”) focuses on knowledge and competences regarding the historical, ethical and theoretical dimensions of medicine as an essential basis for a future reflective and competent physician practice. This class is taught as case-based learning in cooperation with clinical practitioners in the second clinical year. In the preclinical years our class on medical terminology brings the students into contact with the Greek, Latin, and Arabic sources of medicine and its technical language.
The Institute’s archive has an extensive collection of slides and photos. Additionally, there is a medical historical collection encompassing approximately 1,000 objects with a special focus on everyday medical routines in the German Democratic Republic. The collection is currently under restoration and will be presented in new rooms in the near future.
University Medicine Greifswald
Institute of Ethics and History of Medicine
Ellernholzstr. 1-2
D-17487 Greifswald
Fon: ++49 (0)3834 / 86 57 80 or 81
Fax: ++49 (0)3834 / 86 57 82
