We can also do online - evaluation of the accompanying digital seminar of the elective subject "General Practice" during intership (PJ) at Ruhr-University Bochum.

Aim: Due to the lockdown caused by the Corona pandemic, the internship (PJ=practical year) seminars of the elective subject "General Practice" at Ruhr-University Bochum had to be transferred on short notice into online teaching formats via a digital platform. At the end of these new online course, the four students evaluated the comprising 16 teaching units. Methods: The seminars, each comprising four teaching units, took place in online blended-learning units and online events. After completing the seminar program, the four participants filled out a written questionnaire regarding the implementation of digital teaching, quality of teaching content, acceptance as well as advantages and disadvantages of the teaching format. Results: The acceptance of digital teaching was very high among students. Advantages and disadvantages of this teaching format compared to the previous face-to-face events became apparent; a positive assessment of the possibilities of the online format clearly prevailed, as competence-oriented, interactive aspects were very well implemented. Conclusion: Due to the need of switching to digital teachings formats, new, innovative perspectives have arisen for PJ teaching in Bochum as well as for the more distant second location Ostwestfalen-Lippe. This is particularly true with regard to centralised seminar offers despite decentralised training centres. When implementing "new" licensing regulations this creates an opportunity for general practice to include teaching practices in training throughout the country.

Didactic qualification of teaching staff in primary care medicine - a position paper of the Primary Care Committee of the Society for Medical Education.

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 minimum standards are made, based on national and international recommendations 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.

Self-Assessment of competence during post-graduate training in general medicine: A preliminary study to develop a portfolio for further education.

Awareness of one's own strengths and weaknesses is a key qualification for the specialist physician. We examined how physicians undergoing specialist training in general medicine rate themselves in different areas. For this purpose, 139 participants receiving post-graduate training in general practice offered by the Medical Association of Westfalen-Lippe assessed themselves regarding their subjective confidence in 20 core competencies and 47 situations involving patient counseling in general practice. Their self-assessments were recorded on a five-point Likert scale. The study questions addressed acceptance and practicability of self-assessment, mean values, reliability, stratification and plausibility of the results in group comparison. On average participants rated their subjective confidence with 3.4 out of 5 points. The results are self-consistent (Cronbach's alpha >0.8), although there are considerable differences among competencies and among participants. The latter can be explained partly by biographical data, which supports the plausibility of the data. Participants stated that regularly gathering data on subjective learning needs and the discussion of these needs with mentors and trainers contributes to improving their specialist training. Elements for self-assessment are suitable for integration into a postgraduate training portfolio. These should be supplemented by formative assessment procedures.

How important is medical ethics and history of medicine teaching in the medical curriculum? An empirical approach towards students' views.

OBJECTIVES: It was investigated how students judge the teaching of medical ethics and the history of medicine at the start and during their studies, and the influence which subject-specific teaching of the history, theory and ethics of medicine (GTE)--or the lack thereof--has on the judgement of these subjects. METHODS: From a total of 533 students who were in their first and 5th semester of the Bochum Model curriculum (GTE teaching from the first semester onwards) or followed the traditional curriculum (GTE teaching in the 5th/6th semester), questionnaires were requested in the winter semester 2005/06 and in the summer semester 2006. They were asked both before and after the 1st and 5th (model curriculum) or 6th semester (traditional curriculum). We asked students to judge the importance of teaching medical ethics and the history of medicine, the significance of these subjects for physicians and about teachability and testability (Likert scale from -2 (do not agree at all) to +2 (agree completely)). RESULTS: 331 questionnaire pairs were included in the study. There were no significant differences between the students of the two curricula at the start of the 1st semester. The views on medical ethics and the history of medicine, in contrast, were significantly different at the start of undergraduate studies: The importance of medical ethics for the individual and the physician was considered very high but their teachability and testability were rated considerably worse. For the history of medicine, the results were exactly opposite. GTE teaching led to a more positive assessment of items previously ranked less favourably in both curricula. A lack of teaching led to a drop in the assessment of both subjects which had previously been rated well. CONCLUSION: Consistent with the literature, our results support the hypothesis that the teaching of GTE has a positive impact on the views towards the history and ethics of medicine, with a lack of teaching having a negative impact. Therefore the teaching of GTE should already begin in the 1st semester. The teaching of GTE must take into account that even right at the start of their studies, students judge medical ethics and the history of medicine differently.