Making better doctors - using mind-body medicine skills as a self-care element in medical education at the Charité University Medical School.

The education at a medical school is a time of significant psychological distress for physicians in training [1]. High workloads associated with stress are common to the medical profession and ethical conflicts as well as the exposure to human suffering and death are further unique stressors for medical students. This can lead to physical exhaustion and mental fatigue among students. The inability to cope successfully with the enormous amount of stress may lead to a cascade of consequences at both a personal and professional level. Stress negatively impacts performance, and there is evidence that even empathy declines during medical school [2]. Considering the future doctor shortage, stress in the medical profession is only likely to increase. Taking into account that a good doctor needs to have both medical as well as communicative/psycho-social competencies [3], this prospect of increased stress threatens the quality of future health care and demonstrates the utmost importance of promoting self-care for medical students.