[Research and education in general medicine--historical overview and future prospects]

At present the results of basic research in general practice are neither widely appreciated, nor understood in its great importance. At the Technische Universität in Munich, Germany, however, teaching of general practice on the basis of these cognitions a few years ago was started and is well accepted by the faculty and the students. The urgently needed continuation of basic research and a better teaching of medicine applied at the front-line will require another organization of the general practice departments created at the universities.