Hospital visit Campus Benjamin Franklin, Charité, Berlin, Germany, June 22, 2015
by Anna Sauerbier, Peter Balicza, Antonella Macerollo on behalf of the European Association of Young Neurologists and Trainees (EAYNT)
The hospital visit followed by a get-together during the first congress of the European Academy of Neurology held in Berlin between the 20th and 23rd of June 2015 was organised through the collaborative efforts of the European Association of Young Neurologists and trainees (EAYNT) and the German Jungen Neurologen. This year more than 70 junior neurologists visited the Benjamin Franklin Campus at one of the biggest University Hospitals in Europe, the Charité, which was founded in 1710 by Frederik Wilhelm I.
Nowadays the Charité has around 14000 employees as well as more than 7000 students (Free and Humboldt University) and impressively 8 Nobel prize winners used to work at the Charité.
During the hospital visit the participants were warmly welcomed by Professor Audebert who fascinated the participants with a very comprehensive presentation of the different steps one has to undergo in order to become a neurologist in Germany. Furthermore, he presented the Neurology department with a focus on the stroke unit at the Benjamin Franklin Campus. The junior neurologists learned that the Neurology department at the Campus Benjamin Franklin includes 64 beds covering 25 acute stroke unit (12 monitoring beds), 25 general neurology, 14 early rehabilitation, 1 stroke MRI and 1 stroke emergency mobile beds. The participants had the unique opportunity to gain an insight into the impressive stroke unit at the Campus Benjamin Franklin and discovered the acute stroke facilities as well as the new stroke unit. Interestingly, Professor Audebert pointed out the architectural curiosity of the hospital, which was built during the Cold War in Western Berlin.
Besides the excellent clinical care the Campus Benjamin Franklin has a strong focus on research with several active and very productive working groups, ranging from the stroke registry and clinical science group, the heart and brain group, the brain computer interface group, the movement disorders group, the epilepsy group to the inflammatory CNS diseases group.
After the impressive walk through the wards and the corridors of the Charité, the young neurologists had a wonderful get-together dinner at the hospital.
This hospital visit would not have been possible without the great support of Professor Audebert and his team as well as the German Jungen Neurologen in particular Christiana Ossig and Arne Hiliendorf. We would like to thank Professor Audebert and his team, the Jungen Neurologen and all contributors who participated in this event!
Certainly, this was one of the highlights of the congress.
