An explorative vs. traditional practical course: how to inspire scientific thinking in medical students.

Recently, medical students' scientific thinking skills have been identified as an important issue in medical education. Scientific thinking cannot be imparted in conventional lectures, but rather requires actively involving students. We modified a practical course in physiology. A study was designed to test whether the new course fosters scientific thinking without impairing the transfer of physiological knowledge. The study group consisted of 226 first-year medical students at the Medical Faculty Mannheim of Heidelberg University. Written consent to participate in the study was obtained from all participants. The group was then randomly divided into two groups (traditional vs. modified course). The subject of both courses was a laboratory experiment in skeletal muscle physiology. In the traditional course, the students addressed topics already presented in lectures. In the modified course, students dealt with the same topics as in the traditional course, but the experiment was expanded to include one issue not taught before. When working on this issue, the students were instructed in scientific thinking. All participants filled out a questionnaire with 15 multiple-choice questions addressing the physiological subject matter and four open-ended questions addressing the criteria of scientific methodology. Physiological knowledge in both groups did not differ [F(1) = 2.08, P = 0.15]. Scores in scientific thinking in the modified course were higher (mean = 4.20, SD = 1.89) than in the traditional course (mean = 2.04, SD = 1.91) with F(1) = 70.69, P < 0.001, η2 = 0.24 (large effect). Our study demonstrates that small adjustments to courses in medical education can promote scientific thinking without impairing knowledge transfer.

The inventory as a core element in the further development of the science curriculum in the Mannheim Reformed Curriculum of Medicine.

Introduction: The German Council of Science and Humanities as well as a number of medical professional associations support the strengthening of scientific competences by developing longitudinal curricula for teaching scientific competences in the undergraduate medical education. The National Competence Based Catalogue of Learning Objectives for Undergraduate Medical Education (NKLM) has also defined medical scientific skills as learning objectives in addition to the role of the scholar. The development of the Mannheim science curriculum started with a systematic inventory of the teaching of scientific competences in the Mannheim Reformed Curriculum of Medicine (MaReCuM). Methods: The inventory is based on the analysis of module profiles, teaching materials, surveys among experts, and verbatims from memory. Furthermore, science learning objectives were defined and prioritized, thus enabling the contents of the various courses to be assigned to the top three learning objectives. Results: The learning objectives systematic collection of information regarding the current state of research, critical assessment of scientific information and data sources, as well as presentation and discussion of the results of scientific studies are facilitated by various teaching courses from the first to the fifth year of undergraduate training. The review reveals a longitudinal science curriculum that has emerged implicitly. Future efforts must aim at eliminating redundancies and closing gaps; in addition, courses must be more closely aligned with each other, regarding both their contents and their timing, by means of a central coordination unit. Conclusion: The teaching of scientific thinking and working is a central component in the MaReCuM. The inventory and prioritization of science learning objectives form the basis for a structured ongoing development of the curriculum. An essential aspect here is the establishment of a central project team responsible for the planning, coordination, and review of these measures.

[Use of standardized patients in the psycho-social subjects of medical studies--applicability of standardized patients in postgraduate psychotherapy training curricula?]. / Einsatz von Schauspielpatienten in den "Psych-"Fächern des Medizinstudiums--Verwendungsmöglichkeiten in der Psychotherapieausbildung?

Due to the successful use of standardized patients (SPs) in medical studies, possible fields of application for SPs in postgraduate psychotherapy training were examined on the basis of a systematic literature research (ranging from 1982 to 2011) on the use of SPs in the fields of psychotherapy, medical psychology, psychosomatic medicine, and psychiatry. The results show that SPs are used predominantly for teaching communication and counseling techniques, history taking, and assessment of psychopathology and are commonly used to portray patients with affective disorders, neurotic, stress and somatoform disorders and schizophrenia, as well as schizotypal and delusional disorders. The use of SPs is generally rated positively with regard to subjective learning effects, satisfaction, and authenticity. Hence, the results suggest that postgraduate psychotherapy training curricula might benefit from the implementation of SPs.