GMS journal for medical education
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Background: The purpose of this study was twofold: to assess the status of undergraduate medical ultrasound (US) education in the German-speaking area and to suggest a possible framework for a longitudinal undergraduate medical US curriculum based on the study results and a literature review. Methods: The survey included 44 medical faculties in the German-speaking area: 37 in Germany, four in Austria and three in German-speaking Switzerland. A standardized questionnaire focused on the following aspects of undergraduate medical US education: general information, organization, resources, assessment methods and evaluation. ⋯ Conclusion: Medical faculty members in the German-speaking area have recognized the relevance of undergraduate medical US education. So far, courses are offered heterogeneously with rather short hands-on scanning time and high student-instructor ratio. Based on the results of this study and a literature review we suggest a possible framework and milestones on the way to a longitudinal undergraduate medical US curriculum.
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Introduction: Routine medical care in Germany, Austria and Switzerland is being increasingly impacted by the cultural and linguistic diversity of an ever more complex world. Both at home and as part of international student exchanges, medical students are confronted with different ways of thinking and acting in relation to health and disease. Despite an increasing number of courses on cultural competence and global health at German-speaking medical schools, systematic approaches are lacking on how to integrate this topic into medical curricula. ⋯ Outlook: High-quality healthcare as a goal calls for the systematic internationalization of undergraduate medical education. In addition to offering specific courses on cultural competence and global health, synergies would be created through the integration of cultural competence and global health content into the curricula of already existing subject areas. The NKLM (the national competence-based catalogue of learning objectives for undergraduate medical education) would serve as a basis for this.
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Goal: Knowledge about sex/gender aspects in medicine is often lacking, even though this serves as base for individualized patient-centered care. Thus we developed an online exchange platform on sex and gender aspects in medicine: "GenderMed-Wiki" [www.gendermed-wiki.de]. This was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF; FKZ: 01FP1506). ⋯ Conclusions: Focus groups are a useful approach to identify necessary changes in projects in a systematic way. After further optimizations, "GenderMed-Wiki" seems to be suitable to facilitate the integration of sex/gender into medical teachings. It is of importance, however, to change the attitude of students towards sex/gender sensitive medicine (e.g. by integration into the medical curriculum), since this influences strongly how this platform is perceived and how someone deals with its contents.
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Objective: The final year of undergraduate medical education in Germany is called the practical year (PY), where emphasis is placed on developing practical skills requisite of soon-to-be physicians. Many students choose to spend part of this year abroad, yet little is known about their results on the medical licensing examinations. Is there a predisposition of high-performing students to go abroad as compared to lower performers? Are international health electives during the PY followed by higher scores in the final section of the German medical licensing examination (GMLE2)? Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study among undergraduate medical students at the LMU Munich, who participated in the final section of the German medical licensing examination between autumn 2009 and spring 2011. ⋯ Conclusions: Students with higher GMLE1 scores go abroad during PY more often. Beyond that, students who pursue international health electives achieve higher GMLE2 scores than those who stay in Germany during PY. There is an unmet need for additional research to identify which factors make these students perform better and what motivates them to go abroad.