What is a U-Kurs in medical school?

1 min read

In short

At German medical faculties, “U-Kurs” usually abbreviates Untersuchungskurs, a clinical examination course. Students learn history-taking and basic examination. The name, timing, content and equipment vary locally.

Different teaching goals: Dissection: anatomy; U-Kurs: examination; Autopsy: investigate death.

Contents

Skills beyond equipment
Useful equipment
Preparation
Questions

Skills beyond equipment

You practise introducing yourself, explaining procedures, seeking consent and listening. Inspection, palpation, percussion and auscultation develop a systematic approach to examining the body.

Teaching may use models, simulated patients, consenting fellow students or supervised patient contact. Privacy, voluntary participation and clear boundaries matter in every format. A class does not justify unsolicited diagnostic experiments elsewhere.

Useful equipment

A suitable stethoscope is often relevant. A reflex hammer, penlight, watch or other aids may be required or supplied. Products used on living people must have an appropriate intended use; educational tools restricted to non-living material are not suitable.

Dress requirements vary between sessions. A coat may be required for one activity and unnecessary for another. Never assume a coat used in a dissection room is appropriate for clinical teaching: areas have separate hygiene rules.

Preparation

Read current objectives and instructions, check equipment and clothing, revise terminology and the planned sequence, check stethoscope function and approved cleaning, and have unfamiliar steps demonstrated before attempting them.

Read about stethoscope types, medical equipment and course mapping. The older LMU example illustrates a teaching format; it does not replace current faculty information.

Questions

Is a cheap stethoscope enough?: Basic blood-pressure exercises and differentiated auscultation have different needs. Choose for the learning objective and compare models in class where possible.
Does it always begin after preclinical studies?: No. Early clinical and integrated curricula may teach examination sooner.

Sources & further reading

LMU: older examination-course example(opens in a new tab)

General guidance for study and teaching. For your actual work, your safety briefing, hygiene plan, lab instructions and the product instructions apply. Legal information refers to Germany.