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Aim: During the COVID-19 pandemic, social restrictions significantly impacted post-graduate training in pediatric surgery. This paper describes the implementation and continuation of a German-language, online training program for pediatric surgery residents, named "KiWI" (Kinderchirurgische Weiterbildung im Internet), which was established during the period of social distancing. Method: "KiWI" was designed as a monthly, post-graduate online seminar course that combined practical relevance with theoretical knowledge. The teaching methods included case presentations by residents, active participant engagement through multiple-choice questions, and chat interactions. Course evaluation was conducted via an online questionnaire. The program was specifically tailored to meet the needs of the residents through close collaboration with them. Results: Between February 2021 and September 2023, an average of 53 participants (M=53; SD=20) attended each session, with no correlation observed between attendance and the level of social restrictions. Fifty-seven percent of the participants were residents, with over half being in their fifth year or beyond of post-graduate training. Evaluations indicated a high level of satisfaction with the topics and course design. Lecturers showed great willingness to participate voluntarily, and moderators facilitated the sessions to support the lecturers. Technical issues were addressed through pre-session test runs. Conclusion: The "KiWI" project demonstrates the potential of online continuing education as a resource-efficient supplement to post-graduate medical education. The program achieved high levels of acceptance and accessibility, showcasing the effectiveness of a decentralized online seminar format with interactive, case-based teaching methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to massive and aprupt changes in the training of health care professionals. Especially hands-on training can no longer take place in the usual form in everyday clinical practice. Rotations on the interprofessional training ward in Pediatrics (IPAPAED) at the University Medical Center Freiburg, had to be suspended starting March 2020. This report presents the interprofessional Covid-19 Replacement Program (I-reCovEr) as an alternative learning format for a rotation on the IPAPAED at the Center for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. I-reCovEr offers opportunities for pediatric nursing trainees (n=6) and medical students (n=9) to learn together, taking hygienic and distancing measures into account. Based on a case study, selected learning aspects regarding interprofessional cooperation and communication are targeted. The participants report increased knowledge about the work of the other professional group in the evaluation using the Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale (ISVS) -9A. In comparison to participants of the IPAPAED, however, the self-evaluation did not reveal any self-perceived acquisition of other interprofessional skills or competences. I-reCovEr can therefore serve as an introduction to interprofessional training, but it cannot replace interprofessional learning and working on an interprofessional training ward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Auscultation skills are among the basic techniques to be learned in medical school. Such skills are achieved through supervised examination of patients often supported by simulator-based learning. The emergence of COVID-19 has disrupted and continues to hinder hands-on on-site medical training on a global scale. Project description: An effective virtual auscultation course was established in times of contact restrictions due to COVID-19 at the Medical Faculty of the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. The interactive case-based webinar was designed to improve listening techniques, description and interpretation of auscultation findings in an off-site context. Clinical cases with pre-recorded auscultation sounds and additional case-based diagnostics were presented. The course focused on common heart murmurs including aortic and mitral valve stenosis and regurgitation as well as congenital heart defects (ventricular septal defect and patent ductus arteriosus). Results: The course was well received by the students and assessed as being useful and instructive. Assessment of learning effects, such as detection of pathological findings before and after training, is ongoing as part of a subsequent trial. Conclusion: Virtual interactive learning using a sound simulation lesson with clinical case presentations via video chat can well be used as a supplement to practical auscultation training. This learning format could also play a useful role in the curriculum of medical studies once contact restrictions are revoked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: COVID-19 challenges curriculum managers worldwide to create digital substitutes for classroom teaching. Case-based teaching formats under expert supervision can be used as a substitute for practical bedside teaching, where the focus is on teaching clinical reasoning skills. Methods: For medical students of LMU and TU Munich, the interactive, case-based, and supervised teaching format of Clinical Case Discussion (CCD) was digitised and implemented as dCCD in their respective curricula. Case discussions were realised as videoconferences, led by a student moderator, and took place under the supervision of a board-certified clinician. To prevent passive participation, additional cognitive activations were implemented. Acceptance, usability, and subjective learning outcomes were assessed in dCCDs by means of a special evaluation concept. Results: With regard to acceptance, students were of the opinion that they had learned effectively by participating in dCCDs (M=4.31; SD=1.37). The majority of students also stated that they would recommend the course to others (M=4.23; SD=1.62). The technical implementation of the teaching format was judged positively overall, but findings for usability were heterogeneous. Students rated their clinical reasoning skills at the end of the dCCDs (M=4.43; SD=0.66) as being significantly higher than at the beginning (M=4.33; SD=0.69), with low effect size, t(181)=-2.352, p=.020, d=0.15. Conclusion: Our evaluation data shows that the dCCD format is well-accepted by students as a substitute for face-to-face teaching. In the next step, we plan to examine the extent to which participation in dCCDs leads to an increase in objectively measured clinical reasoning skills, analogous to a face-to-face CCD with on-site attendance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Clinical reasoning (CR) is a clinical core competence for medical students to acquire. While the necessity for CR teaching has been recognized since the early 20th century, to this day no consensus on how to best educate students in CR exists. Hence, few universities have incorporated dedicated CR teaching formats into their medical curriculum. We propose a novel case-based, peer-taught and physician- supervised collaborative learning format, dubbed "Clinical Case Discussions" (CCDs) to foster CR in medical students. Project description: We present the curricular concept of CCDs and its development according to a six-step approach (problem identification and general needs assessment; targeted needs assessment; goals and objectives; educational strategies; implementation; evaluation and feedback). Our goal is to strengthen the physician roles (Can- MEDS/NKLM) and CR competence of medical students. CCDs are offered at our institution as an elective course and students work on real-life, complex medical cases through a structured approach. Over the course of five years we evaluated various aspects of the course and trained student teachers to optimize our course concept according to the feedback of our participants. We also obtained intro and exit self- assessments of CR competence using an established CR questionnaire. Results:We found an unmet need for CR teaching, asmedical students in their clinical years view CR as highly important for later practice, but only 50% have ever heard of CR within the curriculum. Acceptance of CCDs was consistently high with over 85% of participants strongly agreeing that they would re-participate in the course and recommend it to a friend. Additionally, we observed significant improvements in CR self-assessments of participants. Conclusion: CCDs are a feasible teaching format to improve students' CR competence, have a high acceptance and involve students in medical education through peer-teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zielsetzung: Ärztinnen und Ärzte in Weiterbildung (ÄiW) Allgemeinmedizin haben überwiegend wenig Austausch mit ihrer Peer Group, weil sie meist die einzigen ÄiW sind, die zu einer gegebenen Zeit in dem entspre chenden Fachbereich bzw. der Praxis arbeiten. Die hier vorgestellte Online-Plattform „KOLEGEA“ hat daher das Ziel, die Weiterbildung Allgemeinmedizin in Deutschland durch den virtuellen Austausch zu unterstützen. Methodik: In einem interdisziplinären Forschungsprojekt wurde 2012 eine Online-Plattform etabliert, die Ärztinnen und Ärzten in Weiterbildung ÄiW) mittels ihrer Einheitlichen Fortbildungsnummer (EFN) frei nutzen können. Neben problemorientierten Lernen können anonymisiert ein- gestellte Patientenfälle mit der Gemeinschaft diskutiert und mit erfahrenen Mentoren (Fachärztinnen/Fachärzten für Allgemeinmedizin) in virtuellen Kleingruppen eingeordnet und diskutiert werden. Ergebnisse: Eine anonyme Online-Umfrage im Rahmen der Evaluation in 2014 wies darauf hin, dass die Plattform positiv aufgenommen wurde, wenn auch Zeitmangel als begrenzender Faktor für die Nutzung beschrieben wurde. Die Datenanalyse zeigte, dass die KOLEGEA-Plattform in allen Bundesländern von ÄiW genutzt wurde. Passive Nutzungsmuster überwiegen (90%). Ergänzend wird die Weiterentwicklung der Plattform in 2015/2016 beschrieben, die einen Aktivitätsmonitor als spielerische Lernelemente integriert. Schlussfolgerungen: Die niedrige Response der Online-Umfrage 2014 und die vorläufigen Auswertungen zu Nutzungsmustern lassen nur erste Trends erkennen, ob KOLEGEA den Weiterbildungsprozess unterstützt. Die Plattform wird als hilfreiche Ergänzung zu einer besseren Strukturierung der Weiterbildung Allgemeinmedizin eingeschätzt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In preparation for the state examination, many students have open questions and a need for advice. Tutors of the Skills Lab PERLE-„Praxis ERfahren und Lernen“ (experiencing and learning practical skills) have developed a new course concept to provide support and practical assistance for the examinees. Objectives: The course aims to familiarize the students with the exam situation in order to gain more confidence. This enables the students to experience a confrontation with the specific situation of the exam in a protected environment. Furthermore, soft skills are utilized and trained. Concept of the course: The course was inspired by the OSCE-model (Objective Structured Clinical Examination), an example for case-based learning and controlling. Acquired knowledge can be revised and extended through the case studies. Experienced tutors provide assistance in discipline-specific competencies, and help in organizational issues such as dress code and behaviour. Evaluation of the course: An evaluation was conducted by the attending participants after every course. Based on this assessment, the course is constantly being developed. In March, April and October 2015 six courses, with a total of 84 participants, took place. Overall 76 completed questionnaires (91%) were analysed. Discussion: Strengths of the course are a good tutor-participants-ratio with 1:4 (1 Tutor provides guidance for 4 participants), the interactivity of the course, and the high flexibility in responding to the group's needs. Weaknesses are the tight schedule, and the currently not yet performed evaluation before and after the course. Conclusion: In terms of “best practise”, this article shows an example of how to offer low-cost and low-threshold preparation for the state examination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The medical faculties at Kiel and Munich University jointly developed the blended learning concept "CliSO - Clinical Skills Online" for computer based and practical training of physical examination skills in undergraduate medical students (http://www.cliso.de). CliSO's didactic concept is based on standardized and learning target 4 oriented mediation of physical examination and sensomotor skills and their association with biomedical basics. Both faculties realized their individual competencies and experiences in systematic (CAU Kiel: Nickels) and case based e-learning (LMU Munich: CASUS®) respectively. Direct and targeted access to contents as well as assessment data was facilitated with single sign on through SCORM/AICC-HACP protocol. CliSO has been integrated into preclinical and clinical curricula. Evaluations in both stages confirm the concept's didactic and technical approach. Transferring CliSO's concept to other faculties seems a justified goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]