The Foundation Year is the systematic and accompanied entry into the medical profession after the conclusion of the BM (EU) medical study program at the KSM. It is based on realisation in Great Britain, carried out here in Germany in the hospitals of Gesundheit Nordhessen. The program is monitored by the Wessex Foundation School (WFS) and regularly audited and certified by the General Medical Council (GMC) to strict quality standards.

Gesundheit Nordhessen is proud to be the only certified non-UK training location for the Foundation Year 1 (F1). 

As in the UK, KSM students receive a so-called "provisional registration" by the GMC following successful completion of their studies, which corresponds to a provisional license in Germany. With the successful completion of the F1, the young doctors receive the "full registration" of the GMC. Upon application, this will be recognised as full practice in Germany, which is accompanied by an unlimited professional license. After the F1, the German, European and British labour markets are open to doctors, as are many Commonwealth countries who recognise this degree.

The Foundation Year 2 (F2), which is compulsory in the UK, is not required for doctors who have completed the F1 in the GNH and is not offered here accordingly. Anyone who wants to do their specialist training in the UK has to apply after the F1 with us for a F2 place in the UK. With respect to subject matter, the F1 in Gesundheit Nordhessen focuses on the introduction to medical work under supervised conditions and all aspects of patient safety.

The course of the F1 is meaningfully structured in the interest of career entry:

• It starts each year on 1st August and ends on 31st July of the following year,

• Before the start, a so-called "Shadowing Period" takes place in the last week of July, in which the doctors follow in the first "placement" department and are informed in detail about organisational matters, without them becoming active themselves.

• During the year, they work in different departments ("placements") in hospitals of Gesundheit Nordhessen, often in two different clinics,

• The "placements" should consciously belong to different areas of medicine to offer a wide range of first medical work (for example trauma surgery and psychiatry or paediatrics and anaesthesia including combinations),

• In each department there is a "Clinical Supervisor" (CS) for the everyday things and questions, and for the entire F1 there is an "Educational Supervisor" (ES) to discuss the educational goals for the year and keep an eye on their achievement,

• In the "Teaching Program" (TP) every 4 weeks there is a complete lesson day on medical meta-themes (e.g. ethics, life support, microbiology, radiology, quality management, DRG-system, etc.), furthermore a two-day Advanced Life Support (ALS) course is compulsory shortly after the start of the F1,

• During the year, supervised learning events (SLEs) take place on a regular basis in clinics, during which physicians demonstrate patient interactions and skills and receive feedback for improvement,

• In addition to these training aspects, F1 is of course primarily about clinical work on the ward, in the operating theatre, in the emergency room or elsewhere,

• After training, participation in the service provision is planned in the areas in which at least one additional medical person of the same subject is present in the building during office hours.