[Reform efforts in dentistry - national and international approaches]. / Reformbemühungen in der Zahnmedizin ­ nationale und internationale Ansätze.

The Study of dentistry in Germany is in need of reform. The actual regulation on licensing dentists in Germany is from 1955, with the last changes made in 1993. Recently there have been different initiatives related to reform: a national catalogue of competency-based learning objectives in dental education (NKLZ), changes and stipulations in the respective rules relating to undergraduate curriculum in dental medicine, and an initiative of the Germany Ministry of Health to tackle and reorganize dental education in Germany.This article presents and reflects on these reform efforts in the context of actual teaching in Germany, Europe, and the United States.The reform process is an opportunity for dental education in German faculties of medicine. New dentistry programs are allowed at all faculties with model educational programs in medicine. Therefore, an example of actual reform efforts are presented based on the experiences of Hamburg. Research on dental educational programs revealed interesting approaches in dental education in other European faculties of medicine. Selected faculties were visited. These experiences led to the formulation of five main goals of reform: interdisciplinary study, problem- and symptom-based learning, early patient contact, science-based education, and communication training. The main goal is a dental education program designed along science-based, prevention-oriented, multidisciplinary, and individualized dental care that contributes to the life-long oral health of patients.

Internet-based brain training games, citizen scientists, and big data: ethical issues in unprecedented virtual territories.

Internet brain training programs, where consumers serve as both subjects and funders of the research, represent the closest engagement many individuals have with neuroscience. Safeguards are needed to protect participants' privacy and the evolving scientific enterprise of big data.

[Medical education in the dilemma between theory and praxis. The reforms in medical studies make an impact]. / Die ärztliche Ausbildung im Spannungsfeld von Theorie und Praxis. Die Reform des Medizinstudiums zeigt Wirkung.

The 2002 German medical licensing regulations for physicians represent an interim end point of a development that demands stronger orientation of medical education towards practical skills training. Meanwhile the responsible institutions have implemented the regulations. The article portrays the history of this reform of medical studies and critically discusses the value of an early practical orientation during the course of medical education. The article stresses the value of medical knowledge, which must receive priority in order to sustain the high quality of medical practice.

[An example for a practice-oriented curriculum in social medicine under conditions of the new medical licensing regulations. Experiences with practiced-oriented teaching and possibilities for including practical issues in the teaching syllabus of medicine after the introduction of new medical licensing regulations]. / Praxisbezug in der sozialmedizinischen Lehre unter den Bedingungen der neuen ärztlichen Approbationsordnung. Erfahrungen aus der praxisbezogenen Seminararbeit und Möglichkeiten einer Weiterführung nach der neuen ärztlichen Approbationsordnung am Beispiel der Sozialmedizin.

Experience with teaching medical students the subject of Social Medicine shows that their interest can be greatly improved by including practical issues such as interviewing chronically ill patients at home, or visiting patient counselling services in the community. With the introduction of the new licensing regulations for physicians, there will be only one final examination and the medical faculties will now have to conduct the examinations themselves. In order to create legal confidence in the results, sufficient homogeneity of the teaching syllabus in Vocational and Social Medicine courses as well as in the new Health Economics courses must be assured for all students. The merger of the two medical faculties of the Free University and the Humboldt University in Berlin have increased student numbers to 400 per semester, so that 20 groups will have to be taught simultaneously. This situation makes excursions to patients or to community facilities nearly impossible. Potential alternatives to allow inclusion of practical issues in the course, even under the new circumstances, are the use of problem-based learning techniques (PBL) such as the creation of theoretical cases dealing with special problems of Social Medicine or the use of standardised patients.