Evaluation of a new approach to implement structured, evidence-based emergency medical care in undergraduate medical education in Germany.

Since June 2002, revised regulations in Germany allow medical faculties to implement new curricular concepts. The medical faculty of the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen, Germany, decided to start a major reform experiment in winter 2003, focussing on an interdisciplinary integration of organs and organ systems such as the cardiovascular or respiratory system. Furthermore, students will have contact with patients at an early stage of their studies.