Charite

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Today we took a venture out to the Charite Hospital; this hospital has a lot of history and has seen many patients from the past, to even some current day patients. In the past, this hospital was mainly used as a containment/treatment area for many of Berlin's widespread disease outbreaks. More recently, the hospital is used in an educational scope, more than medical applications. But, it still does have a cancer treatment ward in the building. When we got to the Charite University, we were greeted by two medical students who very generously showed us some areas of the facility. After a brief powerpoint presentation covering topics including, the medical system in Germany, the structure of the medical school, and their current position at the University to name a few, we were given some hands on training techniques. This included a demonstration and individual application on how to stitch a wound, how to detect the sound of normal heartbeat and respiration, and lastly how to intubate a dummy. For me the intubation lesson was the part that interested me the most; it was a real life application that is used everyday and I had witnessed on multiple hospital shows. It includes tilting a patients head back, locating the trachea, and then inserting a breathing apparatus so manual respiration could ensue. After this, we had a brief lecture and lunch, and then toured the Medical History Museum on the grounds of the Charite. This museum was fascinating, it basically analyzed and presented the advances and history human physiology. From early understandings of medial devices and tools to their comprehensive selection pathological/anatomical body parts. In most areas, you were able to look at functional, healthy areas of the body; but even more interesting was the mutations and nonfunctional body regions. This grouping was very extensive and somewhat grotesque. This collection was very diverse, and accumulated over a hundred years of collection. It was definitely something to see, but not on a full stomach.....