This study aimed to evaluate whether a blended learning course improves medical students’ communication skills compared to a face-to-face only lecture. After completing a face-to-face lecture on communication skills, 2nd year medical students were gender-matched and randomized to either an intervention receiving an interactive video-based online learning module covering the content of the previous lecture and including a knowledge assessment or a control group only receiving a knowledge assessment. The primary endpoint was students’ knowledge about communication techniques assessed by a predefined score from 0 to 100. Secondary outcomes included students’ feedback and satisfaction on a scale from 0 to 5. Additionally, qualitative analysis of free-text responses to patient case vignettes was conducted. One hundred sixty-four medical students were included in the final analysis (64

Early clinical experience within a vertically integrated curriculum might contribute to the development of the desired competencies from the onset of studying medicine. However, most qualitative studies focused on the effects of early clinical experience on students were performed within a primary care setting in the second and third year of studies. Our aim was to explore, from the perspective of first-year medical students, the effects of an early clinical experience course in internal medicine within a tertiary hospital setting on their professional and personal development. We used an inductive approach to conduct a conventional content analysis of 27 reflective writing reports written by first-year medical students after having completed a 60-hour early clinical experience course in the inpatient setting of a university hospital, comprising 48 h in the healthcare setting (primarily internal medicine and its subspecialties) and 12 h in team-building social events. Writing reports aimed to make students openly reflect on their course experience, elaborating on any aspect of perceived relevance. All 27 students invited to participate wrote a reflective report. We identified three themes with their respective categories of codes: (1) Professional growth, including formation of professional identity, dealing with emotions and experience with death; (2) Reinforcing motivation for further studies and work as a physician, including integration into medical studies, shaping a supporting environment and course as a highlight of the studies; and (3) Immersion into the medical field based on real-world exposure, including benefitting from early patient contact and exploration of the field of internal medicine. Throughout the reflective reports, role modelling appeared repeatedly as a driving element for the observed effects. Our findings suggest that, from the perspective of first-year medical students, participation in an early clinical experience course in internal medicine within a tertiary hospital setting positively influences their initiation into professional growth, motivation for further studies and work as physician, and immersion in the medical profession. Further studies are needed to better understand the underlying success factors of such courses.

Objective: Breaking bad news (BBN) is challenging for physicians and patients and specific communication strategies aim to improve these situations. This study evaluates whether an E-learning assignment could improve medical students' accurate recognition of BBN communication techniques. Methods: This randomized controlled trial was conducted at the University of Basel. After a lecture on BBN, 4th year medical students were randomized to an intervention receiving an E-learning assignment on BBN or to a control group. Both groups then worked on an examination video and identified previously taught BBN elements shown in a physician-patient interaction. The number of correctly, misclassified and incorrectly identified BBN communication elements as well as missed opportunities were assessed in the examination video. Results: We included 160 medical students (55% female). The number of correctly identified BBN elements did not differ between control and intervention group (mean [SD] 3.51 [2.50] versus 3.72 [2.34], p = 0.58). However, the mean number of inappropriate BBN elements was significantly lower in the intervention than in the control group (2.33 [2.57] versus 3.33 [3.39], p = 0.037). Conclusions: Use of an E-learning tool reduced inappropriate annotations regarding BBN communication techniques. Practice implications: This E-learning might help to further advance communication skills in medical students. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Based on a six-year degree in medical studies which was characterized by a series of lectures without an over-arching concept, Basel decided to embark on reforms in 1995. The first wave of reforms (1998-2003) produced a hybrid curriculum structure with PbL teaching units, organized according to organ systems, in years 1-4 of medical studies, which met the demand for "clinical content in the pre-clinical phase". A focus on General Practice medicine was achieved by implementing the "One to one tutorial" in the 3rd and 4th year of studies. Fixed weekly schedules provided space for instruction in the three learning dimensions - cognitive, affective and psychomotor learning - implemented in four longitudinal competence strands. The compulsory elective subject area "Early patient contact" was integrated into the elective degree courses of the Bachelor's degree by creating projects. From 2006 to 2012, the demands of the Bologna Declaration were implemented and a Bachelor's and a "consecutive" Master's degree program developed and then implemented. The PbL teaching units which had come in for criticism were replaced in the Master's Degree by the "Clinical Case" and in the Bachelor's degree by the "Tutorial on Scientific and Clinical Reasoning". To strengthen scientific competences, the "Science Month" and the compulsory elective subject area "Scientific Competences - Flexible Offers (WIKO.flex)" were introduced. Further curricular adjustments resulted in the development of an externally accredited integrated emergency curriculum, the establishment of feedback OSCEs and the intensification of the Skills Lab offer. In addition to content, organizational framework conditions for curricular development were key: Thus, the massive expansion of places on medical degree courses also had an impact on curriculum structure and examinations. In 2017, PROFILES, the new Swiss competence framework, was published, which presents curriculum planning with new challenges as a result of the introduction of the EPA concept. Due to the flexible structure of the curriculum, the faculty feels confident it will be able to handle these challenges. The re-accreditation of the degree program in 2018 provided important stimuli for the strengthening of interprofessional teaching and a focus on the competent handling of an increasing number of patients asking for complementary medical treatments.

The Medical Faculty and the University Medical Library of the University of Basel jointly developed a new learning unit called Searchaton. This learning unit aimed at providing knowledge for the point-of-care literature search in everyday clinical practice. To make this as practical and customer-oriented as possible, the faculty and library interacted closely with medical experts. During the Searchaton, the task was to translate a patient case into a clinical question and to find an answer to that question. The format combined collaborative working and gamification with an aspect of time pressure to better reflect everyday clinical situations. The participants benefited greatly from the intensive support and were able to assess their searching skills in the context of evidence-based clinical decision-making.

The concept of a new learning unit called med.info.pro was developed jointly by the medical faculty and the medical library of the University of Basel. Through interviews with doctors and scientists, we first identified gaps in our existing teaching. A doctor also worked hand in hand with an information specialist in holding the course. The close interaction between the library, faculty and subject experts should ensure the most practice and customer oriented content possible. Whereas our previous training for medical students was purely based on classroom teaching, during which great emphasis was put on interactivity and practical exercises, the new training offered uses a blended learning format, i.e. the combination of classroom and electronic components. On the one hand, this format represents a sustainable form of leaning. On the other hand, the electronic component has the advantage of meeting the requirements of users in terms of time and that it can be used again by an extended group of participants.med.info.pro consists of the electronic component webinar that presents the course content as well as a classroom event in order to assess performance. We called this session “Searchaton”, which should emphasise the playful nature of the event. In a competition evaluated by a jury, the students apply what they have learned in the webinar under time pressure.

Next Home Previous Making Medical Knowledge Miriam Solomon Reviewed by Michael Wilde Making Medical Knowledge Miriam Solomon Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015, £35 ISBN 9780198732617 In Making Medical Knowledge , Miriam Solomon describes a variety of epistemological approaches, or 'methods', employed by medical researchers and practitioners.