Rehabilitation Medicine

One week block course, 5th Year
Semmelweis University, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine
Responsible for education: Dr. Zoltán Dénes

Medical students’ level of knowledge about rehabilitation is limited, although we consider the field as one of the 4 major categories of health care services among prevention, treatment and chronic care. Furthermore, according to WHO data, 10% of the population has some form of disability. In recent decades, the practical importance of rehabilitation has increased, and at the same time it has undergone significant development.

Today, basic knowledge of rehabilitation medicine is an integral part of our general medical knowledge.

In 2008, the European Union of Medical Specialists decided to insert rehabilitation medicine into the curriculum of medical universities. The subject was launched as an optional course at Semmelweis University in 2009. The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine was established in 2019, and the education reached its current form with the start of the mandatory one-week block course.

Medical rehabilitation is a medical service (diagnostics, therapy, prevention, care) provided to disabled people to regain some or all of their independence by improving their functions, in order to reintegrate them into family, work and society. The aim of the education is to provide modern rehabilitation knowledge to students, focused on the following areas: interpretation of disability, epidemiology, institutional system of rehabilitation, the rehabilitation team and how it works, the role of the doctor in the rehabilitation team, the place of rehabilitation in the health care system, limitation in the activities of daily living (ADLs),    assessment of functions: movement, self-care, communication,  behavior, most important interventions in rehabilitation, rehabilitation goals, preparing a rehabilitation plan, application of  advanced  technology, rehabilitation of posttraumatic and orthopedic disorders, rehabilitation of amputee patients, neurological rehabilitation.

During the training, students can also get acquainted with the Pető method, which was named after Dr. András Pető. The basic idea of this unique method (conductive education) was that our nervous system has the ability to build new connections despite the injuries, and this process can be promoted by the implementation of an appropriate learning-teaching process. The mission of András Pető Faculty is to improve the quality of life of people of all ages through conductive education, who have disabilities mainly due to central nervous system injury.

Please follow the link below for more information:  

Rehabilitation Medicine Block Course – General Information (pdf)