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RESUMEN

Cough is one of the most frequent causes for consultation in primary care. The diagnostic characteristics in primary care with a broad spectrum of causes and unspecific symptoms are presented using the example of acute and chronic cough. The understanding of the formation of the cough stimulus and the induction by inflammatory, mechanical and chemical triggers as well as the significance of the stimulus threshold of the cough receptor facilitate the comprehension of the various possible causes of cough. The necessary diagnostic procedures are based on the exclusion of warning symptoms that necessitate emergency inpatient treatment, on the duration of symptoms and the spectrum of causes to be expected from them. Ambiguities often remain even with careful basic diagnostics. Watchful waiting and active surveillance can initially be the most sensible approach but should not be misconstrued as carelessness. It necessitates follow-up controls and increased attention especially in patients with a high-risk constellation (e.g. multimorbidity, immune suppression, heart failure) in order to be able to quickly react to the development of treatable aspects or even dangerous courses of disease.

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Cough and dyspnea are among the most common symptoms in primary medical care and potentially threatening diseases must be excluded in a timely manner, especially acute heart failure and its causes, pneumonia, pleural effusion, pulmonary embolism and pneumothorax. Anamnesis, inspection, physical examination and technical basic diagnostics are usually sufficient for an initial risk stratification. A reliable suspected diagnosis can often be made in this way; however, it is not uncommon for the findings to be ambiguous. Chest X­ray diagnostics and laboratory diagnostics are established as the standard approach for these situations; however, a major limitation of these diagnostic techniques is the lack of immediate availability in the general practitioner's office and laboratory results are not available until the next day or the day after. Furthermore, the sensitivity and specificity of these diagnostic procedures are limited but often overestimated, especially in the case of mild to moderately pronounced alterations and in early stages of a disease. Thoracic sonography can be used in these situations as a direct extension of the physical examination. Its diagnostic value is undisputed. The most important pathological findings, such as pleural effusion and subpleural consolidations can be immediately visualized with sufficient certainty using miniaturized handheld ultrasound devices. The concept of the ultrasound stethoscope, which has been under discussion for more than 15 years, can also be implemented as point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS). The POCUS will become established as routine diagnostics in the future, for example in emergency outpatient diagnostics. It is time for pulmonary ultrasound to be added to the repertoire of primary care diagnostics.

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During their studies to become medical professionals, all students are obliged to become familiar with various aspects of primary care. The aim is to provide all students with a high quality training which ensures the best possible cooperation across all sectors of the medical system. Primary care comprises the primary use of the medical service by an unfiltered set of patients as well as continued patient care--including home-care. This position paper was developed together with representatives of the German Society of University Teachers of General Practice (GHA), the German Society for Ambulatory General Paediatrics (DGAAP), the German Society of General Practice and Family Medicine (DEGAM) and the German Society for Internal Medicine (DGIM). It includes recommendations for teaching in the field of primary care in four different types of internships such as preclinical work experience ("Hospitation"), 4-week clinical traineeships of a casual nature ("Famulatur") and 2-week courses of structured and assessed clinical training ("Blockpraktikum") as well as a broad-based 4-month elective clinical placement in the final year (known as a practical year, "PJ"). The recommendations encompass structural and process criteria for internships in different general practices. In addition, for the first time recommendations for teaching on campus--in the fields of general medicine, paediatrics, numerous cross-sectional areas and other clinical fields, but also for clinical skills training--are set down here. In this position paper the intention is to demonstrate the possible ways in which more aspects of primary care could be integrated into undergraduate medical training.

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