Search

Having teaching staff with didactic qualifications in university teaching leads to a measurable improvement in academic skills among students. Previous recommendations on the type and scope of medical didactic qualification measures primarily apply to teaching staff at university and in-patient settings. The situation of primary care medicine, which often employs external lecturers and whose teaching takes place to a considerable extent in decentralized training facilities (teaching practices) is not adequately addressed. Taking into account a survey on the status quo at higher education institutions for General Practice in Germany, recommendations for min- imum standards are made, based on national and international recom- mendations on the content and scope of medical didactic qualification measures. These recommendations include preliminary work by the Personnel and Organizational Development in Teaching (POiL) Committee of the Society for Medical Education (GMA), the MedicalTeachingNetwork (MDN), the Society of University Teaching Staff in General Medicine (GHA) as well as the experiences of the committee members, who hail from the field of general medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics amongst others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent developments in medical education have created increasing challenges for medical teachers which is why the majority of German medical schools already offer educational and instructional skills trainings for their teaching staff. However, to date no framework for educational core competencies for medical teachers exists that might serve as guidance for the qualification of the teaching faculty. Against the background of the discussion about competency based medical education and based upon the international literature, the GMA Committee for Faculty and Organizational Development in Teaching developed a model of core teachingcompetencies for medical teachers. This framework is designed not only to provide guidance with regard to individual qualification profiles but also to support further advancement of the content, training formats and evaluation of faculty development initiatives and thus, to establish uniform quality criteria for such initiatives in German-speaking medical schools. The model comprises a framework of six competency fields, subdivided into competency components and learning objectives. Additional examples of their use in medical teaching scenarios illustrate and clarify each specific teaching competency. The model has been designed for routine application in medical schools and is thought to be complemented consecutively by additional competencies for teachers with special duties and responsibilities in a future step. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: Digital teaching, learning and assessment have been part of medical education and continuing education for decades. The objective of this review paper is to highlight developments and perspectives in these areas in the GMS Journal for Medical Education (GMS JME). Methodology: In the spring of 2020, we conducted a systematic literature search of the Journal for Medical Education (JME) and analysed the articles with regard to different categories such as article type, digital tools used or mode of data collection. Results: Of the 132 articles analysed, 78 were digital interventions (53 of which were exploratory-descriptive), 28 were project descriptions, 16 were surveys of needs or equipment and 10 were concept papers. About one-third of the studies and project reports each dealt with virtual patients or case-based learning, whereas no articles were published on trends such as serious games or virtual reality. Overall, our analysis shows that in many respects, the studies on digital teaching were more broadly based, especially between 2006 and 2010, after which this trend tended to decline again. Conclusions: Our analysis shows that publications in the JME consider some key aspects of digital teaching in medical education and continuing education, such as educational videos or virtual patients. The variability of information and methods of presentation advocate the use of guidelines to optimise the quality of scientific papers. Furthermore, clues for future research topics and experimental study designs are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Telemedicine is a significant component of healthcare in most disciplines, giving great importance to the education of young physicians in this field. However, the topic of telemedicine has not yet been implemented in medical schools' curricula. This paper makes an important contribution to closing this gap by designing, implementing and evaluating a course with telemedical components. Using the example of a clinical traineeship preparation course, we investigated the extent to which integrated telemedical modules can contribute to the subjective confidence of students with regard to knowledge and confidence in performing practical telemedical skills, such as doctor-patient communication, taking medical histories, and applying handover techniques. Project description: The course evaluation was descriptive. Subjective confidence in clinical telemedicine skills was assessed before and after completion of the course using an online questionnaire and calculated in a pre-post design using Wilcoxon's signed-rank test. Results: The course was rated "very good" (31%) and "good" (54.2%) by the vast majority of students. The results of the Wilcoxon test show significant increases in students' feelings of confidence in performing practical telemedicine skills for all items. Discussion: This study shows that telemedicine modules integrated in a digital preparatory course contribute positively to students' subjective confidence in terms of knowledge and confidence in performing practical telemedicine skills. Specifically, this paper illustrates that professional digital doctor-patient communication, digital documentation of a medical history, and handoff techniques can be learned through telemedicine course content. Conclusion: Telemedicine modules increase students' subjective confidence in performing practical telemedicine skills. Practical telemedicine course content can thus reduce uncertainty in the use of telemedicine and prepare future physicians for its use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communicative competencies are of great importance to the medical profession, hence the teaching of them has been continuously expanded in recent years at many German medical schools. While individual courses on communicative competencies have already been established in the curricula, there remains, in part, a lack of longitudinal anchoring over the entire course of medical study. In 2008 theMedical FacultyMannheimbegan implementing a longitudinal curriculum for communicative competencies. This paper outlines the general and phase-specific success factors in this process and gives practical recommendations and tips based on the personal experiences of the authors and the existing literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This paper seeks to assess how medical students can be trained in medical studies seminars to examine their own professional role as doctors. The LET ME ... keep you real! university seminar was developed and conducted at the Technical University of Munich. In this context, the following questions will be addressed: How can we assess the contribution of a university seminar to a medical student's own examination of being a doctor? And: What skills are developed in LET ME ... keep you real! that foster medical students' (self-)reflexion? Methods: The source data is statements made by medical students who took part in the LET ME ... keep your real! seminar from 2016- 2018. Student perspectives were analyzed after five focus group discussions with a total of 26 medical student participants and two individual interviews. Based on the interpretative paradigm and following the credo of a methodological exploration of medical students' lifeworld, their specific learning experience as well as their ability for (self-)reflexion were mapped out. Results: The research questions guiding the assessment of the seminar can be answered as follows: From the students' perspective, the self-)reflexion triggered and organized by LET ME ... keep you real! can be seen as rehearsing a meta-view. From the students' standpoint, five skills can be identified that make this behavior possible: 1. questioning and doubting, 2. recognizing relevant perspectives, 3. classifying viewpoints, 4. maintaining communal exchanges and 5. deciding on a (different) position. Situatively, these skills are often used in combination and challenge students on an intellectual, communicative and emotional level. Conclusion: The ability to (self-)reflect should be more strongly integrated in university medical training by providing appropriate support, especially since it presents students with specific challenges to (self-)reflexively approach their own future as doctors. The skills mapped out here can be used as orientation to develop seminars on professional (self-)reflexive identity development for medical students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The significance of medical education research has increased internationally. In this context we investigated whether, and if so, how the quantity and quality of scientific papers reviewed and/or published by the GMS Zeitschrift für Medizinische Ausbildung (GMS Z Med Ausbild) changed. Methods: The quantity and ratio of original papers, project reports and reviews submitted to or published in the GMS Z Med Ausbild were analysed. Published scientific articles were investigated in regard to the quality features "study type" and "mode of data collection" as well as the background (university affiliation) of the last authors. The citation frequency within the first five years after PubMed listing was compared to the one of BMC Medical Education in the corresponding period. Results: The number of submitted scientific manuscripts increased steadily. Most of the submissions and publications are original papers. For publications explorative studies and prospective data collection are most common. A shift over time is not observed. 16% of the published works come from one and 36% from four of the in total 39 universities represented by the last authors. The development of the citation frequency of articles published in GMS Z Med Ausbild is similar to that of BMC Medical Education. Conclusion: The rising number of submissions indicates an increasing significance of medical education research in German-speaking countries. The development of the number of citations reflects the growing appreciation of GMS Z Med Ausbild also indicated by the increasing number of online accesses. Our findings that study type and mode of data collection did not change has to be interpreted with caution since among other things choice and correct application of adequate methods are crucial regarding a scientific work's quality, too. These aspects, however, were not investigated in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This project is part of the "PJ-STArT-Block", a one-week course preparing 10th semester medical students for their final practical year. The focus is on sensitizing students to aspects of medication safety by becoming aware of their skills and their deficits in terms of application and communication of pharmacological knowledge. The modules were evaluated regarding feasibility, acceptance and possible effects. Fur- thermore, the areas in which students see their pharmacological deficits or learning successes were gathered. Methods: In simulated physician-patient conversations, the students are to identify drug-related problems such as medication errors, adverse drug events or interactions. Together with their fellow students and under medical or pharmaceutical moderation, they then have to find solutions for the identified problems and communicate these solutions to the patients. Based on paper cases, students practice, reflect, and discuss the research of reliable information about drugs andmedication therapy. The written evaluation included the evaluation by school grades and the possibility of comments in free text. A content analysis of interviews with students at the beginning of the project aimed to identify areas of pharmacology in which they see their own deficits. Results: Evaluation results including the free text comments indicate students' acceptance of our pharmacology modules. According to this, the students realize the importance of aspects relevant for medication safety. The areas mentioned in 35 interviews in which students localize deficits, correspond to the topics that were intended when conceiving the modules and which are important for medication safety (e.g. interactions, adverse drug effects, dosages). Conclusion: Implementation of context-based, application-oriented teaching formats as recently claimed for pharmacological education to improve the quality of prescriptions, is possible, as the Cologne example shows. The student evaluation turns out positively and indicates a critical self-reflection. The students identified various pharmacological deficits in themselves, which have since been confirmed and quantified in another study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The psychological demands placed upon the emergency medical services, assures them of their place amongst High Responsib- ility Organizations. A high pressure to act and an irreversibility of situ- ations are integral features of their workplaces. After the emergency services' job profiles were restructured in Germany, the practical stage of paramedic training is now undertaken in these conditions. That is, they are trained by a supervising instructor whilst caring for critically ill patients. This paper aims to describe the requisite skills for such an instructor, formulate the associated competences as learning objectives, and develop a quality-measuring instrument for the description of training situations. Methods: The compilation of a competence catalogue was done via a two-step process: following a Delphi survey with an expert panel of practical trainers and trainees, a large cohort of parameters were valid- ated in terms of their relevance. Those factors that formed scales to- gether were identified. Results: After validating the results of the Delphi analysis, six scales (composed of 25 items in toto) were defined. They included the areas of "Training during times of action", "Training during periods of calm", "Background and practical relevance", "Character and personality traits", "Pedagogical competencies" and "Organizational behaviour". Conclusion: For the first time, a competency catalogue has been developed for instructors working in the emergency medical services from German-speaking countries. The catalogue focuses upon clinical training during the acute care of critically ill patients. The scales and items can be used for training-the-trainers, and also quality monitoring. Further research needs to focus on the application of the catalogue in clinical practice and evaluate the need for situational customization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Qualitative health research can contribute to knowledge building in public health and medicine, but there is a lack of research- oriented training of qualitative methods at universities with public health programs and in medical schools. The aim of this paper is to describe our experiences in conceptualising, implementing and evaluating an elective on qualitative methods in the Master of Public Health (MPH) programme at the Medical Faculty of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich. Methods: A new research-oriented elective (3 Credit Points) was developed and delivered to MPH and medical students in summer 2016. This elective consisted of three blocks that were complemented by two practice sessions. The students worked in small groups. These groups developed a research question and a qualitative study design addressing the thematic focus of vaccinations. Each student conducted two semi- structured interviews with a semi-structured interview grid. Students transcribed the interviews, analysed themaccording to content analysis and presented the results collaboratively. Results: In that semester, 16 students successfully completed the elective. Groups of two to three students worked on their respective research questions, presented, and reflected on their research results. The participants evaluated the module as very good, particularly with regard to the structure and consistency of the blocks. To facilitate indi- vidualised mentoring and guidance, a high student-lecturer ratio is required. Timeframe and workload should pay tribute to the module's credit points. Conclusions: We successfully implemented a research-oriented elective providing a first-hand experience with qualitative health research methods. Students were able to learn about the theory and practical application of qualitative research in the field of medicine and public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) often involve a considerable amount of resources in terms of materials and organization since the scores are often recorded on paper. Computer- assisted administration is an alternative with which the need for mater-ial resources can be reduced. In particular, the use of tablets seems sensible because these are easy to transport and flexible to use. Aim: User acceptance concerningthe use of tablets during OSCEs has not yet been extensively investigated. The aim of this study was to evaluate tablet-based OSCEs from the perspective of the user (examiner) and the student examinee. Method: For two OSCEs in Internal Medicine at the University of Heidelberg, user acceptance was analyzed regarding tablet-based ad-ministration (satisfaction with functionality) and the subjective amount of effort as perceived by the examiners. Standardized questionnaires and semi-standardized interviews were conducted (complete survey of all participating examiners). In addition, for one OSCE, the subjective evaluation of this mode of assessment was gathered from a random sample of participating students in semi-standardized interviews. Results: Overall, the examiners were very satisfied with using tablets duringthe assessment. The subjective amount of effort to use the tablet was found on average to be "hardly difficult". The examiners identified the advantages of this mode of administration as being in particular the ease of use and low rate of error. Duringthe interviews of the exam-inees, acceptance for the use of tablets during the assessment was also detected. Discussion: Overall, it was found that the use of tablets during OSCEs was well accepted by both examiners and examinees. We expect that this mode of assessment also offers advantages regardingassessment documentation, use of resources, and rate of error in comparison with paper-based assessments; all of these aspects should be followed up on in further studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: An essential aim of courses in evidence-based medicine (EBM) is to improve the skills for reading and interpreting medical literature adequately. Regarding the conceptual framework, it is important to consider different educational levels. Aim: Our primary aim was to investigate the applicability of different instruments for the assessment of methodological study quality by 3rd grade students after short courses in EBM. Our secondary outcomes were agreement with expert assessments and student's knowledge and competences. Methods: We conducted four short courses in EBM of 90 minutes each for health care management and medical students focused on critical appraisal of the literature. At the end, the students assessed five publications about randomized controlled trials (RCTs) using five different instruments; the results were compared to expert assessments. Results: In total, 167 students participated in our EBM courses. Students' assessments showed a non-systematic over- and underestimation of risk of bias compared to expert assessments with no clear direction. Agreement with expert assessments ranged between 66% to over 80%. Across RCTs, evidence was found that the choice of instrument had an impact on agreement rates between expert and student assessments (p=0.0158). Three RCTs showed an influence of the instrument on the agreement rate (p<0.05 each). Discussion: Our results contrast sharply with those of many other comparable evaluations. Reasons may be a lack of students' motivation due to the compulsory courses, and the comparison to a reference standard in addition to self-ratings causing objectivity. Conclusion: Undergraduates should become familiar with the principles of EBM, including research methods, and the reading of scientific papers as soon as possible. For a deeper understanding, clinical experience seems to be an indispensable precondition. Based on our results, we would recommend an integration of lectures about EBM and critical appraisal at least twice during studies and with greater intensity shortly before graduation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: As part of the MaReCuM model curriculum at Medical Faculty Mannheim Heidelberg University, a final year rotation in ambulatory care was implemented and augmented to include ambulatory care simulation. In this paper we describe this ambulatory care simulation, the designated competency-based learning objectives, and evaluate the educational effect of the ambulatory care simulation training. Method: Seventy-five final year medical students participated in the survey (response rate: 83%). The control group completed the ambulatory rotation prior to the implementation of the ambulatory care simulation. The experimental group was required to participate in the simulation at the beginning of the final year rotation in ambulatory care. A survey of both groups was conducted at the beginning and at the end of the rotation. The learning objectives were taken from the National Competency-based Catalogue of LearningObjectives for Undergraduate Medical Education (NKLM). Results: The ambulatory care simulation had no measurable influence on students' subjectively perceived learning progress, the evaluation of the ambulatory care rotation, orworkingin an ambulatory care setting. At the end of the rotation participants in both groups reported having gained better insight into treating outpatients. At the beginning of the rotation members of both groups assessed their competencies to be at the same level. The simulated ambulatory scenarios were evaluated by the participating students as being well structured and easy to understand. The scenarios successfully created a sense of time pressure for those confronted with them. The ability to correctly fill out a narcotic prescription form as required was rated significantly higher by those who participated in the simulation. Participation in the ambulatory care simulation had no effect on the other competencies covered by the survey. Discussion: The effect of the four instructional units comprising the ambulatory care simulation was not measurable due to the currentform or the measurement point at the end of the 12-week rotation. The reasons for this could be the many and statistically elusive factors relevant to the individual and the wide variety among final year rotation placements, the late point in time of the final survey, and the selection of simulated scenarios. The course is slated to undergo specific further development and should be supplemented with additional learning opportunities to ensure that the main learning objectives are covered. The description of the teaching format is meant to contribute to the ongoing development of medical education with an emphasis on competency in the areas of ambulatory care, communication, prevention and health promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is general consensus that the organizational and administrative aspects of academic study programs exert an important influence on teaching and learning. Despite this, no comprehensive framework currently exists to describe the conditions that affect the quality of teaching and learning in medical education. The aim of this paper is to systematically and comprehensively identify these factors to offer academic administrators and decision makers interested in improvingteachinga theory-based and, to an extent, empirically founded framework on the basis of which improvements in teaching quality can be identified and implemented. Method: Primarily, the issue was addressed by combining a theorydriven deductive approach with an experience based, "best evidence" one during the course of two workshops held by the GMA Committee on Personnel and Organizational Development in Academic Teaching (POiL) in Munich (2013) and Frankfurt (2014). Two models describing the conditions relevant to teaching and learning (Euler/Hahn and Rindermann) were critically appraised and synthesized into a new third model. Practical examples of teachingstrategies that promote or hinder learningwere compiled and added to the categories of this model and, to the extent possible, supported with empirical evidence. Based on this, a checklist with recommendations for optimizinggeneral academic conditions was formulated. Results: The Frankfurt Model of conditions to ensure Quality in Teaching and Learning covers six categories: organizational structure/medical school culture, regulatory frameworks, curricular requirements, time constraints, material and personnel resources, and qualification of teaching staff. These categories have been supplemented by the interests, motives and abilities of the actual teachers and students in this particularsetting. The categories of this model provide the structure for a checklist in which recommendations for optimizing teaching are given. Conclusions: The checklist derived from the Frankfurt Model for ensuring quality in teaching and learning can be used for quality assurance and to improve the conditions under which teachingand learningtake place in medical schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The introduction of innovative teachingformats and methods in medical education requires a specific didactic training for teachers to use complicated formats effectively. This paper describes preliminary considerations, design, implementation and evaluation of a skills-based workshop (7,5 hours long) for teaching with simulated patients. The aim is to describe the essential components for a lasting effect of the workshop so that the concept can be adapted to other contexts. Method: We present the theoretical framework, the objectives, the didactic methodology and the implementation of the workshop. The evaluation of the workshop was carried out using questionnaires. First the participants (teachers of the faculty of medicine, clinical and science subjects) were asked to estimate how well they felt prepared for small group teaching immediately after workshop. Later, after some teaching experience of their own, they gave feedback again as a part of the general evaluation of the semester. Results: In the course of three years 27 trainings were conducted and evaluated with a total of 275 participants. In the context of semester evaluation 452 questionnaires were evaluated on the quality of training. Conclusion: The evaluation shows that participants appreciate the concept of the workshop and also feel sufficiently well prepared. As a limitation it must be said that this is so far only the lecturers' self-assessment. Nevertheless, it can be stated that even a one-day workshop with a stringent teaching concept shows long term results regarding innovative teaching methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Many medical faculties are introducingfaculty development programmes to train their teaching staff with the aim of improving student learning performance. Frequently changing parameters within faculties pose a challenge for the sustainable establishment of such programmes. In this paper, we aim to describe facilitatingand hindering parameters usingthe example of the basic teacher training (BTT) course at the Charite - Universtitätsmedizin Berlin (Charite). Project description: Aftersporadic pilotattempts for university education training, basic teacher training was finally established at the Charite in 2006 for all new teaching staff. An interdisciplinary taskforce at the office for student affairs designed the programme accordingto the Kern cycle of curriculum development, while the Charite advanced training academy provided the necessary resources. Within ten years more than 900 faculty members have completed the BTT (9% of current active teaching staff at the Charite). The BTT programme underwent several phases (piloting, evaluation, review, personnel and financial boosting), all of which were marked by changes in the staff and organizational framework. Evaluations by participants were very positive, sustainable effects on teaching could be proven to a limited extent. Discussion: Success factors for the establishment of the programme were the institutional framework set by the faculty directors, the commitment of those involved, the support of research grants and the thoroughly positive evaluation by participants. More challenging were frequent changes in parameters and the allocation of incentive resources for other, format-specific training courses (e.g. PBL) as part of the introduction of the new modular curriculum of the Charite. Conclusion: The sustainment of the programme was enabled through strategic institutional steps taken by the faculty heads. Thanks to the commitment and input by those at a working level as well as management level, the basic teacher training course is today an established part of the faculty development programme at the Charité. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The decision having the most serious consequences for a student taking an assessment is the one to pass or fail that student. For this reason, the reliability of the pass/fail decision must be determ-ined for high quality assessments, just as the measurement reliability of the point values. Assessments in a particular subject (graded course credit) are often composed of multiple components that must be passed independently of each other. When "conjunctively" combining separate pass/fail de-cisions, as with other complex decision rules for passing, adequate methods of analysis are necessary for estimating the accuracy and consistency of these classifications. To date, very few papers have ad-dressed this issue; a generally applicable procedure was published by Douglas and Mislevy in 2010. Using the example of an assessment comprised of several parts that must be passed separately, this study analyzes the reliability underlying the decision to pass or fail students and discusses the impact of an improved method for identifying those who do not fulfill the minimum requirements. Method: The accuracy and consistency of the decision to pass or fail an examinee in the subject cluster Internal Medicine/General Medi-cine/Clinical Chemistry at the University of Heidelberg's Faculty of Medicine was investigated. This cluster requires students to separately pass three components (two written exams and an OSCE), whereby students may reattempt to pass each component twice. Our analysis was carried out using the method described by Douglas and Mislevy. Results: Frequently, when complex logical connections exist between the individual pass/fail decisions in the case of low failure rates, only a very low reliability for the overall decision to grant graded course credit can be achieved, even if high reliabilities exist for the various components. Forthe example analyzed here, the classification accuracy and consistency when conjunctively combiningthe three individual parts is relatively low with K=0.49 or K=0.47, despite the good reliability of over 0.75 for each of the three components. The option to repeat each component twice leads to a situation in which only about half of the candidates who do not satisfy the minimum requirements would fail the overall assessment, while the other half is able to continue their studies despite having deficient knowledge and skills. Conclusion: The method put forth by Douglas and Mislevy allows the analysis of the decision accuracy and consistency for complex combin-ations of scores from different components. Even in the case of highly reliable components, it is not necessarily so that a reliable pass/fail decision has been reached - for instance in the case of low failure rates. Assessments must be administered with the explicit goal of identifying examinees that do not fulfill the minimum requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Course evaluations are often conducted and analyzed well after the course has taken place. By usinga digital audience response system (ARS), it is possible to collect, view and discuss feedback during or directly following a course or lecture session. This paper analyzes a student evaluation of a lecture course with ARS to determine if significant differences exist between the results of the ARS lecture evaluation and those of the online evaluation at the end of the semester. In terms of the overall evaluation, consideration is given to the level of students' prior knowledge, the presentation of the lecture material by the lecturers and the relevance of the lecture topic for students. Method: Duringthe 2011-12 winter semester, the lecture on Pediatrics at the Freiburg Center for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine (Zentrum für Kinder- und Jugendmedizin (ZKJ) Freiburg) was evaluated using ARS. Thirty-four lectures were evaluated by an average of 22 (range 8- 44) students, who responded to four questions each time an evaluation took place. Results: On a 6-point Likert scale (1=very good to 6=deficient), the students rated their level of preparedness with a mean of 3.18, the presentation of the lecture with 2.44, and the relevance of the lecture topic with 2.19. The overall evaluation of the lecture course by means of ARS resulted in 2.31. The online evaluation conducted at the end of the semester yielded a score of 2.45. Highly significant correlations were seen between the results of the ARS for the overall evaluation, assessment of prior knowledge, lecture presentation, and the estimated relevance of the lecture topic. Conclusion: The use of ARS is suitable for immediate evaluation of lectures, in particular regardingtimely feedback for the individual lecturerlecturers. In comparison with an end-of-term evaluation, ARS yielded a better assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the development of the periodical in 2015. Topics discussed include changes in editorial board of the journal, the changes in types of articles publishing and incentive given to authors whose papers will be selected by the editorial board. The author also mentions that the journal promote scientific discourse of education and professional development in medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine.

In this paper we present our 5-year-experience with a large-scale mentoring program for undergraduate medical students at the Ludwig Maximilians-Universität Munich (LMU). We implemented a two-tiered program with a peer-mentoring concept for preclinical students and a 1:1-mentoring concept for clinical students aided by a fully automated online-based matching algorithm. Approximately 20-30% of each student cohort participates in our voluntary mentoring program. Defining ideal program evaluation strategies, recruiting mentors from beyond the academic environment and accounting for the mentoring network reality remain challenging. We conclude that a two-tiered program is well accepted by students and faculty. In addition the online-based matching seems to be effective for large-scale mentoring programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aim: The dissection course is an essential part of preclinical medical education. At the Medical Faculty of Duesseldorf, an education concept has been developed with the aim, to reflect with students their experiences and to support them in dealing with the donor and preparation. The aim of this paper is to present the concept. Method: The education concept had a peer group approach. It comprised a lecture, a small group seminar and an online diary as core element. Finally, the concept was evaluated. Results: Approximately one sixth of students made use of the online diary. Selected entries are presented here. Also, one sixth of students took part in the evaluation. They rated the activity as helpful to prepare for the dissection course. Discussion: The education concept could be a corner stone of a longit- udinal training to promote the adequate encounter with topics such as dying and death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]