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Practical year medicine in case of CF

Question
My son is 24 years old and studies (with empathy) medicine. In summer he will do his second state exam. His health status is relatively stable, on the other hand he is getting easliy ill in case of a high physical burden.
He is actually very afarid of the practical year, especially concerning the part in internal medicine. He is especially afraid of the germ load, there. After the practical year he wants to do his specialization in any case in psychiatry, in order to avoid the health risk as far as possbile.
My question is: how are the chances for a CF patient to find a place in internal medicine, where he can be relatively sure, that he does’t get new germs? Are there any possibilities here to find a „special program“ for CF patients? Where can he turn to in order to find this out?
Answer
Hello,
that is nice that your son likes to study medicine! Physicians with empathy are needed very much and you describe your son as such a person, the greater is my pleasure about this.
Now to your question. Your sorrows are justified, however should lead to caution and not to fear in case of you and your son. Otherwise he should not have studied medicine at all. Medicine is always associated with germs, in case there is contact to patients and this is independent oft he subspecialty the physician is working at. The risk of infection is probably higher in internal medicine as e.g. compared to psychiatry, however in order to be able to work in psychiatry, knowledge in the part of internal medicine is absolutely necessary. Therefore a physician can not work effectively in other parts of medicine without learning in internal medicine. Therefore, your son cannot avoid a practical time in internal medicine, however can try to be on wards, that are not infection diseases wards. For this, he has to get however information himself and it would be the best to talk to the chief physician in charge for the ward, before he starts his time there. Special „programms“ in medical studies for disabled people do not exist. During the studies, each student hast o find the way, that is right for him himself.
If it would be helpful for your son, he could probably get in contact with physicians, who are suffering from CF themselves and are working in their profession already. In here the German patient organisation Mukoviszidose e.V. could help, your son could get some information there.
I hope to have helped you with my information and stay with my best regards,
Yours
Dr. Christina Smaczny
17.03.2017