[The examination mix at the Medical University Vienna]. / Der Prüfungsmix an der Medizinischen Universität Wien.

The present work describes a curriculum design with the instrument of an examination mix for the study of medicine at the medical University of Vienna. The fields of application of special examination formats as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the individual examination forms are presented. Types of summative written examinations, assessment of practical skills and abilities (OSCE), oral-practical examinations, as well as formative examinations are illustrated. Studies show that repeated testing leads to higher learning gains. Therefore, the challenge is to develop suitable methods for the continuous assessment of the learning progress in the study and to apply accordingly. Thus, in addition to the written summative exams, more and more oral and practical forms of examinations in courses with continuous assessment character should be used.

Standardized patients in psychiatry - the best way to learn clinical skills?

BACKGROUND: Standardized patients (SP) have been successfully utilized in medical education to train students' communication skills. At the Medical University of Vienna communication training with SPs in psychiatry is a mandatory part of the curriculum. In the training, the SP plays the role of four different patients suffering from depression/suicidal tendencies, somatoform disorder, anxiety disorder, or borderline disorder while the student attempts to gather the patient's medical history. Both the instructor and SP then give the student constructive feedback afterwards. METHOD: The aim of the study was to evaluate the quality of the SP's roleplay and feedback, using a self-created questionnaire. Additionally, we wanted to gauge the differences between the students' and teachers' evaluations of the SP's role playing performance and feedback. RESULTS: The questionnaire was completed by 529 students and 29 teachers who attended the training. Overall, both students and teachers evaluated the SPs' performance and feedback very well. In comparison to the responses given by the teachers, more students reported that the "SP overacted" while fewer students believed that the "SP could be a real patient". The feedback given by the SP was evaluated similarly by students and teachers, suggesting that students are able to recognize the quality of constructive feedback. Furthermore, the SP's quality of roleplaying was evaluated as the poorest while playing the psychiatric disorder "depression/suicidal tendencies." CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that students and teachers appreciate SPs' competence of role play and of giving feedback. However, further studies should be performed to figure out why both students and teachers alike evaluated the played psychiatric disorder "depression/suicidal tendencies" to be the worst.

Unto the third generation: evidence for strong familial aggregation of physicians, psychologists, and psychotherapists among first-year medical and psychology students in a nationwide Austrian cohort census.

BACKGROUND: Medical students present higher numbers of physician relatives than expectable from the total population prevalence of physicians. Evidence for such a familial aggregation effect of physicians has emerged in investigations from the Anglo-American, Scandinavian, and German-speaking areas. In particular, past data from Austria suggest a familial aggregation of the medical, as well as of the psychological and psychotherapeutic, professions among medical and psychology undergraduates alike. Here, we extend prior related studies by examining (1) the extent to which familial aggregation effects apply to the whole nation-wide student census of all relevant (eight) public universities in Austria; (2) whether effects are comparable for medical and psychology students; (3) and whether these effects generalize to relatives of three interrelated health professions (medicine, psychology, and psychotherapy). METHODS: We investigated the familial aggregation of physicians, psychologists, and psychotherapists, based on an entire cohort census of first-year medical and psychology students (n = 881 and 920) in Austria with generalized linear mixed models. RESULTS: For both disciplines, we found strong familial aggregation of physicians, psychologists, and psychotherapists. As compared with previous results, directionally opposite time trends within disciplines emerged: familial aggregation of physicians among medical students has decreased, whilst familial aggregation of psychologists among psychology students has increased. Further, there were sex-of-relative effects (i.e., more male than female physician relatives), but no substantial sex-of-student effects (i.e., male and female students overall reported similar numbers of relatives for all three professions of interest). In addition, there were age-benefit effects, i.e., students with a relative in the medical or the psychotherapeutic profession were younger than students without, thus suggesting earlier career decisions. CONCLUSIONS: The familial aggregation of physicians, psychologists, and psychotherapists is high among medical and psychology undergraduates in Austria. Discussed are implications of these findings (e.g., gender equity, feminization of the medical field, ideas for curricular implementation and student counselling), study limitations, and avenues for future research.

The impact of climate change on the medical profession - a newly implemented course on medical ecology.

Objective: The consequences of climate change on health care systems as well as the individual involvement in climate change has not been a focus of the study of human medicine. Therefore, the lecture and practical course medical ecology have been reorganized to reflect the increasing importance of this topic. In order to be available to all students, this course was included in the core curriculum of the first year of study in human medicine. Methodology: The teaching concept is based on the method "multidimensional learning". The theoretical examination of environmental changes, especially climate change, is placed at the starting point within the framework of a lecture, followed by the translation of theoretical principles into practical knowledge by calculating the ecological footprint and subsequent reflection on the newly learned content. The project was evaluated by means of a self-constructed course evaluation instrument (three feedback questions) and an internal university online tool. Results: 656 students (100%) described the most important knowledge they gained in the course. One third of the students (N=218) indicate that they would like to participate in a more advanced seminar. 137 students comment on specific aspects. Overall, students express great interest in the topic of medical ecology. They reflect in a remarkably (self-)critical way on the individual contribution to climate change and can clearly name the health consequences of climate change. The contents should be expanded in a more in-depth seminar. Conclusion: The concept of the course has proven to be purposeful in order to prepare relevant and complex contents of medical ecology in an understandable way. Both lecture and practical course should be further developed accordingly.

Publication activity in medical education research: A descriptive analysis of submissions to the GMS Zeitschrift für Medizinische Ausbildung in 2007-2015.

Objectives: The significance of medical education research has increased internationally. In this context we investigated whether, and if so, how the quantity and quality of scientific papers reviewed and/or published by the GMS Zeitschrift für Medizinische Ausbildung (GMS Z Med Ausbild) changed. Methods: The quantity and ratio of original papers, project reports and reviews submitted to or published in the GMS Z Med Ausbild were analysed. Published scientific articles were investigated in regard to the quality features "study type" and "mode of data collection" as well as the background (university affiliation) of the last authors. The citation frequency within the first five years after PubMed listing was compared to the one of BMC Medical Education in the corresponding period. Results: The number of submitted scientific manuscripts increased steadily. Most of the submissions and publications are original papers. For publications explorative studies and prospective data collection are most common. A shift over time is not observed. 16% of the published works come from one and 36% from four of the in total 39 universities represented by the last authors. The development of the citation frequency of articles published in GMS Z Med Ausbild is similar to that of BMC Medical Education. Conclusion: The rising number of submissions indicates an increasing significance of medical education research in German-speaking countries. The development of the number of citations reflects the growing appreciation of GMS Z Med Ausbild also indicated by the increasing number of online accesses. Our findings that study type and mode of data collection did not change has to be interpreted with caution since among other things choice and correct application of adequate methods are crucial regarding a scientific work's quality, too. These aspects, however, were not investigated in this paper.

Recommendations for reviewing a manuscript for the GMS Zeitschrift für Medizinische Ausbildung.

The aim of this paper, written by the committee of educational research methodology of the "Society for Medical Education" of the German-speaking countries, will give recommendations for the review process of scientific papers in medical education. The recommendations are based on the results of a workshop in 2007 and on a survey among reviewers of the journal GMS Z Med Ausbild. It reflects on international standards and research in medical education in Germany. The paper describes reviewer's function concerning the journal of GMS Z Med Ausbild and specifies criteria for the review process with regard to the editors and reviewers; it also gives proposals for a feedback to the author. The catalogue of criteria for the reviewers is pictured in a checklist. The present recommendations shall help to increase the quality of the review process and to improve the national and international acceptance of the journal GMS Z Med Ausbild. Additionally, transparency of the review processes will support authors to submit a scientific article of high quality.