[Practicability and Efficiency of E-health Applications in Patient-Reported Outcomes: State of and Need for Research]. / Praktikabilität und Leistungsfähigkeit von E-Health-Anwendungen bei der Erhebung von Patient Reported Outcomes: Forschungsstand und -bedarf.

AIMS: E-health-based technologies also play an increasing role in the collection of patient- reported outcomes (ePRO). However, it remains unclear how feasible and powerful e-health applications are in the collection of PRO. Therefore, it should be examined to what extent the requirements for the use of technology-based PRO instruments has already been explored in order to allow its broad use in the "e-health world". Specifically, the research focus is on practicability, capability and technical implementation of ePRO. The design of the basic legal requirements for the conduct of PRO interviews and how the challenges of ePRO have already been harmonized here need to be examined.Methods Literature study: selective literature research in Pubmed as well as in the databases of DIMDI, G-BA, FDA and EMA. RESULTS: Current scientific knowledge about hurdles, acceptance and usefulness in relation to sociodemografic factors, health status and technical skills as well as about technical implementation is low. The legal standards for ePRO are restricted only to the composition of the survey instrument and methodology quality criteria. There are no prerequisites for a broad use of ePRO, which is why therapeutic measures should not be based on them. CONCLUSION: The standards of the legislators must be specified and adapted to the requirements of ePRO. Because the design of the tool surface and the rate of usability can influence the response behavior of the patients, the focus should be on the reliability and validity of ePRO surveys in the context of their implementation in relation to the patients, disease, questionnaire and ePRO-specific variables, which determine the response behavior, in order not to endanger the meaningfulness of PRO surveys.

Communication skills of medical students during the OSCE: Gender-specific differences in a longitudinal trend study.

BACKGROUND: Communication skills are essential in a patient-centred health service and therefore in medical teaching. Although significant differences in communication behaviour of male and female students are known, gender differences in the performance of students are still under-reported. The aim of this study was to analyse gender differences in communication skills of medical students in the context of an OSCE exam (OSCE = Objective Structured Clinical Examination). METHODS: In a longitudinal trend study based on seven semester-cohorts, it was analysed if there are gender differences in medical students' communication skills. The students (self-perception) and standardized patients (SP) (external perception) were asked to rate the communication skills using uniform questionnaires. Statistical analysis was performed by using frequency analyses and t-tests in SPSS 21. RESULTS: Across all ratings in the self- and the external perception, there was a significant gender difference in favour of female students performing better in the dimensions of empathy, structure, verbal expression and non-verbal expression. The results of male students deteriorated across all dimensions in the external perception between 2011 and 2014. DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION: It is important to consider if gender-specific teaching should be developed, considering the reported differences between female and male students.