In October 2016, 43 students began studying medicine at the Faculty of Medicine at the Johannes Kepler University in Linz. The JKU's Faculty of Medicine is Austria's first medical school to introduce a medical curriculum in general medicine as part of a Bachelor's and Master's system. General medicine is an essential part of the curriculum in Linz. 45 committed general practitioners teach basic and advanced general medicine. We would like to thank these GPs for their unwavering dedication and commitment.

We believe that being able to teach general medicine in Linz - in all its breadth and diversity - is a tremendous asset to the future of our discipline and is vital to providing health care services for the population. Students are introduced to general medicine early on in the program and we are often able to spark an interest in family medicine and working at a family practice in the future.

To the same extent as all of the other subjects, general medicine is also an examination subject in the Linz program. Oral course examinations test an understanding of course content as well as internship content. In addition, and as part of the clinical internship year (KPJ), a 4-week internship at a general medical practice is mandatory.

We strongly believe that the successful path of general medicine, which began in Linz, will continue in the future and be adopted by other Austrian medical universities.

Extensive university education in general medicine fosters an understanding of the population's complex health care and is very important for future general practitioners as well as each and every physician, regardless of his or her later field of specialization.