European School of Internal Medicine summer meeting: September 2011

The European Federation of Internal Medicine (EFIM; www.efim.org) was founded in 1996 with the intention of fostering links between European doctors and national societies, including the Royal College of Physicians (RCP). The EFIM has general internal medicine at its heart and holds regular scientific meetings and conferences covering a broad range of topics relevant to the general physician.

A year after the conception of EFIM, the European School for Internal Medicine (ESIM) was born. ESIM was established to enable trainee physicians across the 35 member countries of the EFIM to meet. School meetings are held annually in winter and summer. In 2011, the School meeting was held in Brighton at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School under the direction of Chris Davidson who, for the third year running, organised a varied and stimulating mixture of lectures, discussions and case presentations (www.esim2011.org).

Ramon Pujol, president of EFIM, gave the opening lecture. He discussed the history of internal medicine and highlighted the differences in the provision of healthcare throughout Europe; for example, in some Mediterranean countries (eg France, Spain and Portugal) general internal medicine is thriving, whereas in others, such as Denmark, it is almost nonexistent and all secondary healthcare is specialised. Each country presented an interesting case, ranging from the everyday to the decidedly small print. The case of hantavirus in Finland causing renal failure had us all stumped until the last slide.

The final day was spent at the RCP, where Mervyn Singer delivered the keynote lecture on ‘Coping with critical illness’, followed much later by renditions of various national anthems. The week was a perfect blend of medicine and strengthening of international relations.

The next ESIM summer school will be held in Turkey in September 2012.

• © 2012 Royal College of Physicians