[Addressing the problem of terminal care in medical education--results of a survey of 565 students and physicians].

Care for the dying is an important task for physicians. The ways in which this problem is dealt with during the medical training and the expectations of the people concerned were examined in 1989 and in 1994 by means of a questionnaire developed for this purpose. Altogether 565 junior doctors and medical students in Germany were asked.

[Changes in electrolyte and water balance in old age].

The involutive restriction of renal function, of thirst, and loss of body fluid reduce the adaptability of the electrolyte- and fluid metabolism in the geriatric patient. The causes of hydromineral emergencies involving the elderly are discussed. It is explained how, in the geriatric patient, the rapid disturbance of fluid metabolism can frequently pose a more serious threat to life than the underlying pathology, and how awareness of this problem and its rapid resolution can often save the geriatric patient's life.

[Trends in the specialty of internal medicine: specialization and/or integration].

The successes of modern medicine are results of the specialisation in medicine due to the technical development. With increasing specialisation several problems for education and training, for research and medical care develop, so, for instance, a total investigation of patients is not always given on a sufficient scale. Therefore it should increasedly be orientated to an education and training to a generalist both in the training of students of the subject human medicine and during the time of specialisation in the field of internal medicine.