GMS journal for medical education
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Since October 2018, a longitudinal communication curriculum for medical students has been implemented at Witten/Herdecke University. In the summer semester 2020, the concept for the 4th preclinical semester included a practical training on "sharing information", which consisted of three two-hour face-to-face sessions with simulated patients (SP). Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, teaching was changed to an inverted classroom concept combining asynchronous and synchronous teaching. ⋯ The students explicitly appreciated working with SP. From the teachers' perspective, some specific aspects of successful communication were difficult to reflect on, e.g. non-verbal communication. The use of e-learning as a preparation for practical exercises has proven successful and will be continued in the future.
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Background: Since 2013 a competency-oriented student progress test (SKPT) has been administered at a number of German medical schools. The questions are generated on the basis of a two-dimensional blueprint, on which one axis contains the five competency domains - communicative competence (CO), practical clinical competence (CP), theoretical clinical competence (CT), scientific competence (SC), and professional decision-making competence (PR) - that form part of the competency model of the National Competency-based Catalogue of Learning Objectives for Undergraduate Medicine (NKLM). The feedback for students is structured in part according to these domains. ⋯ The results for all of the individual competency domains differed in their informational content compared to the overall of the other domains; the same applies for all pairwise comparisons, with the exceptions of CP and CT. Discussion: The SKPT feedback for students that is differentiated by competency domains basically fulfills the requirements for measurement reliability and distinctness. An improvement of the measurement quality for CO and PR and a better differentiation between CP and CT is desirable.
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Background: Postgraduate training curricula should not be based on time-spans or predefined numbers of performed procedures. One approach to link competencies to clinical tasks is the concept of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPA). The goal of this study was the definition, ranking and validation of EPAs for anaesthesiology postgraduate training and the creation of an anaesthesiologic core curriculum. ⋯ Agreement with the previously defined set of EPAs was 73.3%. Conclusion: This study provides a further step in transforming postgraduate anaesthesiology training into a more contemporary approach. Other studies are necessary to complete and amend the presented core curriculum of EPA based postgraduate anaesthesiology training.
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Objective: The elective subject "career management for medical students" is presented as an example of teaching gender sensitivity issues among medical studies at Leipzig University. The project report shows the interim results of promoting gender-sensitive teaching at the Medical Faculty of Leipzig University, as well as the elective's contribution to the development of gender sensitivity at the entire university. Method: Project Description and Results show the organization/procedure, participants and detailed contents of the elective since it began in Winter Term 2010/11. ⋯ The elective is part of a cycle promoting gender equality at Leipzig University. Conclusion: The elective initiates and continues the implementation of gender-sensitive teaching at the Medical Faculty of Leipzig University. The management of the elective aims at the permanent establishment of the subject in the curriculum in order to encourage career ambitions early - especially for women.
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Introduction: The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is an established format for practical clinical assessments at most medical schools and discussion is underway in Germany to make it part of future state medical exams. Examiner behavior that influences assessment results is described. Erroneous assessments of student performance can result, for instance, from systematic leniency, inconsistent grading, halo effects, and even a lack of differentiation between the tasks to be performed over the entire grading scale. ⋯ Conclusion: Standardization of examinees for previously defined performance levels is possible, making a new tool available in future not only for OSCE quality assurance, but also for training examiners. Detailed preparation of the OSCE checklists and intensive training of the examinees are essential. This new tool takes on a special importance if standardized OSCEs are integrated into state medical exams and, as such, become high-stakes assessments.