Internship Experience in Orthopaedics and Traumatology and its Impact on Becoming a Specialist

Introduction The German practical year is the last clinical placement period during Medical School. However, it remains unclear how medical students evaluate the practical year in orthopaedics and traumatology (Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie; O & U) and whether it has an impact on becoming an O & U specialist. Method We analysed data of 146 medical students (46,7% female) who completed the placement in O & U. From the evaluation, 37 items were included in the analyses. Participants who could imagine becoming an O & U specialist (O & U-Ja) following graduation were statistically compared to those who could not (O & U-Nein). Results Overall 123 (83.7%) trainees indicated that they would like to become an O & U specialist (O & U-Ja), 18 (12.8%) negated (O & U-Nein) and 6 (4.1%) were undecided. Groups did not differ for sex and age (sex: Chi² = 2.50, p = 0.114; age: F [1.93] < 1, p = 0.764). Group differences were found for practical orientation, independency, acquisition of anamnesis and diagnostics skills and problem-solving expertise with students who could imagine becoming an O & U specialist (O & U-Ja) giving the highest ratings. Discussion Evaluations of the last medical year are essential in order to continuously improve the internship experience and to attract students towards a certain medical field and, moreover, to post-graduate specialist training. Clinics and institutions who already emphasize on the factors derived from this evaluation, or are continuously working on improvement, might be more able to attract young professionals, since personnel acquisition is starting early in the medical field.

An assessment of surgical curriculum on “practical year” by students of Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin

Introduction: Modifications to teaching medicine introduced 5 years ago consisted of abolishing the internship, changing the surgical curriculum in the last year of studies by introduction of a so called “practical year”. The objective of this study was investigating how the practical year was undertaken at the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin in the academic year 2017/2018.Materials and methods: A study was carried in a group of154 students of the 6th year of Faculty of Medicine, just before the final test-exam in surgery. The questionnaire used in the study consisted of 11 closed questions concerning the organization, course, and accomplishment of the provided program.Results: The questionnaire results show that the assumed aim of the curriculum, which was a skill/competency-orientedteaching of surgery, was half executed. Students were insufficiently engaged in typical doctor’s activities. One-half of them considered their practical-year as no different from classes practiced in the previous years. Ward-round teaching and the performance of manual skills was considered the most valuable portion of the surgical curriculum. Seminars were scored the lowest, as the least useful. Organization of the classes and the engagement of tutors were evaluated positively by the majority of students. The results of this survey show the grade of accomplishment of the assumed educative aims in teaching surgery in the practical year, and have revealed some drawbacks, which should translate into an improvement of teaching in the forthcoming years.Keywords: surgical curriculum; undergraduate medical education; teaching methods; teaching outcome measures.

Magdeburger PJ-Logbuch der chirurgischen Fächer – interdisziplinäre, einrichtungsspezifische Umsetzung der Vorgabe des Medizinischen Fakultätentages (MFT) von 2012

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund Das Praktische Jahr (PJ) stellt als letzter Abschnitt des Medizinstudiums eine prägende Ausbildungszeit dar, in der medizinisches Wissen konsequent in ärztliche Kompetenzen umgewandelt werden soll. Seit Novellierung der Ärztlichen Approbationsordnung (ÄApprO) vom 17. Juli 2012 sind ab 1. April 2013 die deutschen Universitäten verpflichtet, einen Ausbildungsplan in Form von PJ-Logbüchern für das Praktische Jahr in den Pflichttertialen Chirurgie und Innere Medizin bereitzustellen. In Vorbereitung dieser Neuerung hat der Medizinische Fakultätentag (MFT) im Juni 2012 Basis-Logbücher als Konsensusdokumente vorgelegt. An der Medizinischen Fakultät der Universität Magdeburg wird zur Ausbildung der PJ-Studierenden im Fach Chirurgie ein klinikspezifisches und in Eigeninitiative entwickeltes Portfolio genutzt. Es wurde überarbeitet und zu einem konkretisierten, alltagsbezogenen und stark klinisch orientierten, fakultätsspezifischen PJ-Logbuch nach Vorgabe des MFT umgestaltet. Ziel dieses erörternden Kommentars ist es, das Magdeburger fakultätsspezifische Logbuch in seiner klinischen, sowohl kasus- und diagnose- als auch interventions- bzw. operationsbezogenen Ausrichtung zu präsentieren. Damit sollen institutionelle Erfahrungen vermittelt und die Durchführung des chirurgischen Pflichttertials Chirurgie in unserer Einrichtung dargestellt werden. Methode Narrative Kurzübersicht unter Einbeziehung individueller Lehrerfahrungswerte und themenbezogener Literaturstellen aus „PubMed“ unter den Suchwörtern „surgical logbook“, „practical year“ und „medical teaching“. Hintergründe und Ziele der Dokumentmodifizierung der Fachabteilungen werden erläutert. Ergebnis Das Logbuch unterteilt sich in 6 Abschnitte: Einführung, Basisteil, Anforderungskatalog, ausgesuchte chirurgische Krankheitsbilder und Operationen sowie Informationen zu PJ-Veranstaltungen und eine Anleitung zur Herstellung eines Fallberichtes. Schlussfolgerung Das vorgestellte Magdeburger Logbuch der chirurgischen Fächer entspricht den Vorgaben des MFT und ist gleichzeitig an die Gegebenheiten und die Lehre der Magdeburger Medizinischen Fakultät angepasst. Den Studierenden wird ein alltagsbezogenes, klinisch relevantes Dokument an die Hand gegeben, um gemeinsam mit einem schlüssigen Ausbildungskonzept unverzichtbare praktisch-klinische Kompetenzen zu erwerben.

Surgical teaching at the Medical School Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg – basic conceptual description

Teaching in surgery, one of the classical big clinical and main disciplines beside internal medicine, needs to be also associated with great attention in regard to a valuable final result at the end of the study of human medicine. In particular, surgery is not only the subject to a large number of lectures it also represents one third (four months) of the compulsory internship (practical year – in German, “Praktisches Jahr”) at the end of the study of medicine. Therefore, medical teaching of students should be always part of serious and steady attempts to optimize course und contents as a component of guiding activities focussing onto the substantial improvement of the study of medicine. In detail, the classical and traditionally established type of teaching, the (oral) lecture, has to be further developed and reasonably completed by numerous interactive and practice-oriented teaching, learning and examining modalities (obligatory or facultative seminars / courses, training in [very] small groups of students, bed-side teaching, individual practical exercises within the SkillsLab, groups of young researchers, research projects in teaching, scientific publications on topics and recommendable experiences ot teaching including students, ”Teach-the-teacher“ projects etc.). Although many novel concepts have been inaugurated and considerable advances have been achieved, there is a steady need for further improvement. In the presented representative but medical school-specific overview, the current complex surgical teaching concept, which has been continuously optimized over the last couple of years, at the Otto-von-Guericke University Medical School with University Hospital of Magdeburg (Germany) is described as a scientific and systematizing document as well as a manuscript associated with the ongoing preparation of an institutional “Teaching Manual” on surgical teaching and training for medical students. It should – last but not least – provide the basis for a public discussion, which vice versa might hopefully and possibly result in further structural reforms of (surgical) teaching in the near future.

Who will be the Radiologists of Tomorrow? A survey of radiology during the “Practical Year” in Germany

Purpose Aim of our study was to evaluate the motivation of medical students in their final year of medical school to choose radiology for further specialization by means of a Germany-wide survey. Materials and Methods The survey was performed during the 2015/16 semester among German medical students in their four months radiology elective during the final year. Invitations for the study were distributed by the Student Secretariats of each university. The survey was web-based with EvaSys 7.0 software. Questions on radiology contents during medical studies and “practical year” were part of the survey. Plans for residency and possible advantages and disadvantages of radiology as medical specialty were inquired. Descriptive statistics and group comparisons were used as analysis methods. Results 89 students participated in the survey at the beginning and 60 students at the end of the practical year. Of these 39 students could be identified who answered both questionnaires. Most students were satisfied with their final year radiology elective (mean 1.8 on a range from 1 to 5). Nevertheless, they criticized mentoring during routine work (mean 2.1) and a lack of educational courses (mean 2.1). Most students (83 %) were uncertain about their residency choice at the beginning of their “practical year” and about one fifth changed their plans. From the students’ point of view main advantages of radiology included contact with many other clinical disciplines (87 %) and the working conditions (68 %). The reduced patient contact (42 %), the large amount of work at a computer (43 %), and the dependency on referring physicians (42 %) were regarded as the main disadvantages. The students regarded the way radiology is taught during the studies as not practical enough. With regard to radiology the majority of students (63 %) felt poorly prepared for their future work. Conclusion The “practical year” is important regarding the choice of future specialization. There was a high degree of satisfaction with the “practical year” in radiology. The mentoring during routine work and a lack of educational courses was mildly criticized. These factors provide room for improvement to foster students’ interest in radiology. Key Points Citation Format