The discussions about medical education in the public focus upon quantity. The quality of the teaching process isn't questioned. But the professionalization of medical education should start with a close look at bedside teaching because it is the core of training medical doctors. PATIENT-CENTERED TEACHING: German medical leicensure act (Approbationsordnung) defines the quality of medical education by standard setting for group sizes and fixing the hours of bedside teaching. Although there are some fuzzy definitions it is possible to extract some special forms of bedside teaching. The capacity act (Kapazitätsverordnung) interprets these definitions for calculating the number of students who could be enrolled each year. The different forms of contact with patients which are necessary for a good medical education can be transformed into distinct types of courses. Our classification of courses with specific forms of patient contact is suitable to describe each German program of medical studies. This quantitative profile offers new opportunities for comparing medical education at the different faculties. CONCLUSIONS In many German medical schools the hours of bedside teaching are allocated in a verv pragmatical way according to the medical leicensure act. A more professional curriculum planning leads to a sophisticated use of these diverse forms of patient-centered teaching. Because this professional planning is better derived from the legal basis it offers new arguments against an economically oriented hospital management.