Developing an Instrument to Evaluate Undergraduate Healthcare Students' Professionalism.

Professionalism is a multidimensional quality acquired over time. Undergraduate years lay a foundation for the development of professionalism. Tools monitoring the students' professional development are needed. Our tool development followed three phases: 1) identifying meaningful criteria for professionalism adapted to the education level, 2) developing an evaluation instrument in a process maximising construct validity, 3) testing the evaluation instrument in an interprofessional study. The evaluation instrument proved to be applicable in the field and it meets validity standards. Some differences between professions were found and discussed. Professionality starts to develop during the education, and early monitoring is important to support students' optimal development. The evaluation instrument supports both self- and expert evaluation of healthcare students' professional development.

[Emergency telephone cosultations]. / Telefonische Notfallkonsultationen.

Telephone consultations are part of GP's daily routine. The patients appreciate the quick and uncomplicated access to consultations via phone and therefore the demand for telephone consultations is increasing steadily. Nevertheless, telephone consultations pose a challenge to healthcare professionals. Safety is improved by adhering to recommendations. The required skills are learnable.

Primary care at Swiss universities--current state and perspective.

BACKGROUND: There is increasing evidence that a strong primary care is a cornerstone of an efficient health care system. But Switzerland is facing a shortage of primary care physicians (PCPs). This pushed the Federal Council of Switzerland to introduce a multifaceted political programme to strengthen the position of primary care, including its academic role. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the situation of academic primary care at the five Swiss universities by the end of year 2012. RESULTS: Although primary care teaching activities have a long tradition at the five Swiss universities with activities starting in the beginning of the 1980ies; the academic institutes of primary care were only established in recent years (2005 - 2009). Only one of them has an established chair. Human and financial resources vary substantially. At all universities a broad variety of courses and lectures are offered, including teaching in private primary care practices with 1331 PCPs involved. Regarding research, differences among the institutes are tremendous, mainly caused by entirely different human resources and skills. CONCLUSION: So far, the activities of the existing institutes at the Swiss Universities are mainly focused on teaching. However, for a complete academic institutionalization as well as an increased acceptance and attractiveness, more research activities are needed. In addition to an adequate basic funding of research positions, competitive research grants have to be created to establish a specialty-specific research culture.

General practitioner teachers' job satisfaction and their medical students' wish to join the field - a correlational study.

BACKGROUND: There will be increasing competition for young physicians worldwide as more and more physicians retire. While enthusiasm towards GP work is important for GP teachers as role models, satisfaction within the profession has declined. This study aims to determine if medical students' desire to become GPs is related to the job satisfaction of their teaching GPs and explore the factors tied to this job satisfaction. METHODS: In this cross-sectional, correlational study, teaching GPs of the University of Bern and the fourth year medical students completing internships with them filled in separate questionnaires. RESULTS: Whether or not the GP teacher is perceived by a student to be satisfied with her/his job is correlated to that student's satisfaction with the internship, which in turn, is correlated with student's wish to be a GP after the internship. Results show which factors are most related to GP job satisfaction and the effect of working hours and their composition. CONCLUSIONS: Medical students' perception of their GP teachers' job satisfaction positively affect their wish to become GPs, and their satisfaction with their internships adds to this. Enhancing the positive aspects of GP work, such as recognition, and improving negative ones, such as administrative duties, are necessary to attract medical students into the GP field.

[Increase of attractiveness of primary care during undergraduate medical education]. / Attraktivitätssteigerung der Grundversorgung im Medizinstudium.

The importance of primary care in medical education is recognized internationally. This medical speciality offers a lot of different and attractive aspects. Beyond the milestones of primary care in medical education is the teaching of medical assessment, skills and practical approach. Thus, primary care will get more interesting and attractive. In medical education, primary care should be thought mainly through clerkships, courses and tutorials. Clerkships should be offered during the whole period of medical school. For medical students, GP surgery should become a «place for apprenticeship¼. Innovative teaching methods like courses with simulated patients and blended learning, may increase the attractivity. Preceptors must be aware of their function as role models.

Emergency telephone consultations: a new course for medical students.

BACKGROUND: Using the telephone for consultations is now common practice. Although there is a clear need for specific training for telephone consultations, it is uncommon for it to be taught in medical school. METHODS: A practical course on emergency telephone consultations (ECTs) was designed for the medical degree course at the University of Bern Medical School. During the module, each of the volunteer fifth-year medical students had to perform two simulated telephone consultations. Medical students in their first year of medical school acted as simulated patients (SPs), and they gave immediate feedback to the participants. RESULTS: Nineteen per cent of fifth-year students voluntarily undertook the ETC course. The course was rated 'very informative' by 68 per cent of the participants, and 'informative' by 32 per cent. Ninety-four per cent of the attendees recorded a personal learning gain, and 68 per cent suggested that the course should be obligatory. All the participants thought that the SPs played their roles realistically. DISCUSSION: In their rating of the ETC, the fifth-year students gave it a mean mark of 5.5 (out of a maximum of 6), suggesting that they thought it had been very successful. Students became aware of their need for ETC training through the course itself, and they recommended that it should be obligatory. The ETC pilot received a highly positive response from lead clinicians who anticipated a rising number of telephone consultations, and who have to deal with trainees who have not been taught about how to deal with ETCs. As a result, the Faculty of Medicine decided to make the course obligatory.

Benefits of communication skills training after real patient exposure.

BACKGROUND: The established communication skills training (CST) curriculum consists of continuous education, frequent practice with real patients, supervision and feedback from medical teachers. The limitation of this curriculum is that students have to directly apply the theoretical basis they are provided with to real patients. To improve the existing CST curriculum a CST module involving simulated patients was introduced in order to develop more complex communication skills. METHODS: A new CST module using simulated patients was developed and evaluated. The students assessed the module from their own perspective using a questionnaire, and compared it with other courses. In addition, the communication competencies of the students were assessed with a self-report questionnaire before and after the training. RESULTS: The overall rating for the course was 5.4 on a six-point Swiss school grade scale, with six being the best possible score. The self-assessment showed positive changes after the intervention and subjective improvement in knowledge, to varying extents. DISCUSSION: For the acquisition of more complex communication skills students value being able to practise their skills with simulated patients first, before practising with real patients.