Planning a "Famulatur"

1. Begin
   planning ca. 1 year in advance 

2. Begin language preparation
   Passive: 1-2 years in advance; active & intensive the Semester before you plan to go on your Famulatur
3. Choice of Country
   This depends pretty much on how much money you have. Financial support can be applied for by the DAAD, but only for a Famulatur lasting 8 weeks and for students in their 8th semester. The application has to be submitted before October for the following year.
   How do I decide where?
   England / Ireland are the closest and thus probably the cheapest BUT the most popular. If you have a previous connection with England, for example participated in a school exchange, spent a holiday somewhere in the UK or even better have friends or relatives in a certain city in England always use this connection first.
   Otherwise, take a look at a map of the UK. Decide if you want a large city or rather a smaller town or even village. If you don't know or care then pick two or three large cities, two or three smaller cities and a few middle sized towns in the various areas of England, for example in the southeast (Kent) in the southwest (Cornwall), in the Midlands (Birmingham etc.) further north in Yorkshire and also in Scotland.
   You can use the same criteria for choosing a place in any of the other countries in the world: Australia, South Africa, USA, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand. Of course larger countries like the USA have more hospitals from which to choose. After having picked out the country, city and towns start looking for a hospital. In our "Erasmus" bureau in the Anatomy there are Hospital books available from ALL the English-speaking countries in the world. Some are old, some are new but you can always find addresses here and sometimes even telephone numbers. E-mail addresses are rarely listed. Of course you can try to find these out or further information about the hospital by "surfing" in the internet.
4. What type of hospital?
   For a Famulatur try to avoid university hospitals. Usually if you get accepted you will be placed in a PJ situtation which is usually "over your head".
   Avoid using the word clerkships and electives. These are definetly words used by medical schools and your application will be sent to the medical school or rejected. Most smaller district hospitals have never had medicals students - neither native nor foreign medical students, thus you must sell yourself and the idea of a Famulatur. There are flyers (handbills) available explaining what a Famulatur consists of and also the requirements. The best English equivalent that we have found is Medical visitation and then an explanation of a Famulatur. It is important to emphasize that any hospital (with at least 30 beds) can accept you and it does not have to be a university-associated hospital, indeed it is often better for the hospital not to be affiliated with a medical school.
5. The Application
   If you have found an email address or something in the internet - some hospitals even have applications forms or employment addresses listed - this is the fastest, easiest and least expensive way to apply. If not, the next cheapest way is to send a letter of inquiry if the hospital can accept an application. If you want to go to the expense and bother you can send a curriculum vitae, scholastic listing of what courses you have done to date, even a letter of certification from the dean. A photo is also nice to include (It is more difficult to throw away an application where someone is looking at you). If you don't send all this information the first time, you should certainly offer to send it to the hospital if they require it or want it. If you apply to 25 hospitals this can run into a lot of postage costs.
   At any rate, you should send the hospitals an explanation of the "Famulatur" so that they know what it is all about. Also and very importantly mention that you do not expect to be paid any salary and that you will cover all travel and living costs yourself. Such an offer sounds really too good to be true - and maybe also mention that you hope that you can be of some service to the hospital during your stay. Don't limit your offer to just a certain set of four weeks. Give them the opportunity to choose the best time for them; for example: during the months of July to October I would be available for a four week period to perform this visitation, of course at your convenience.
   The next phase is to wait and be patient. Don't expect them to answer within a week or even a month (No German efficiency!). Wait to ask about accommodation until after you have been accepted. If you have been accepted by more than one hospital, write and inform the other hospitals that you will not be coming. This is polite and fair for others wanting to have these jobs.
6. Hess. Landesprüfungsamt für Heilberufe
   Don´t forget to ask them before starting !

Good luck!

Robert L. Snipes, former Faculty Member and Responsible for International Student Exchange (1998)