Dr Christian Rechtenwald - Rural Family Medicine in Germany

Dr Christian Rechtenwald is a rural family medicine doctor form Germany and has been the Image Officer of ther European Young Family Doctors Movment for the past three years.  He talks about how he became a family doctor, what it has been like leading a rural family medicine practice in Germany, and how he has addressed challenges along the way.   Episode overview: 01.20  Christian's journey to becoming a rural family doctor 10.30  Rural health training in Germany 12.55  What is the rural health landscape in Germany? 17.40  How is the primary care system organized? 21.00  What does a usual day look like for a rural family doctor? 29.25  Who makes up the primary care team? 37.20  Women's health 38.50  Accessibility to specialist 40.15  Emergency care 43.20  Challenges that he has faced 51.45  What would help in the policy area?   57.45  What are some things that he enjoys about rural practice?     1:02.00  Top tips for people thinking about a career in rural health Key Messages: Family medicine lets you care for people while getting to know them better, accompanying people on their life journey.  Social aspects of work within family medicine are not taught well at medical school, however they take up considerable time in the work week.  No specific rural training currently in Germany.  Most primary care practices were solo doctor practices and doctors were self-employed, there is now an increasing percentage of group practices and doctors are working as employees and part-time.  Increase in the paperwork burden, many young doctors are not prepared for the business side of the business of primary care.  Patients do not like video consultations in his village, they prefer to come into the surgery in person.  What is a primary care emergency - one where the patient feels it is an emergency, it is the family doctor's job to work out if it really is an emergency.   Difficult to foresee the direction of healthcare policy in regard to family medicine in Germany. Patients have been more stressed, restless and erratic, this makes it more difficult to maintain a respectful working environment.  This may be linked to the social situation and aftermath of COVID19.  Staff are retiring or do not have the strength to continue so retiring early or leaving healthcare.  Happening in other jobs as well.  Big demand for nurses and nursing homes to provide care for the elderly.  Health policy mostly focuses on hospitals. Round-table for young family doctors where they can discuss the issues they face, share tips for practice and provide support.  Close personal relationships with the primary care team and the community. Enjoys doing home visits with an e-bike.   As a rural doctor it is really important to build networks for collaboration and support.    Go and see as much as you can so you can paint your own picture of what kind of doctor you want to be.  Hippocrates or FM 360 Exchanges to see the situation in other countries. Don't do it on your own, it is easier to work in a team.   Become a part of networks to liaise with, collaborate and find a source of support.  Prepare to talk a lot about stuff that is not related to the disease model you learned at university, you talk about the world and everything that is happening.     Contact Dr Rechtenwald at [email protected]  Thank you for listening to the Rural Road to Health, contact me via [email protected]  Support the podcast by buying a Ko-fi