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This study investigates the effects of medical students' and residents' formative patient death experiences on their understanding of the role of the physician in dealing with dying patients. Analyses revealed a change in attitude, an acceptance of death as 'part of life'. Thoughtful and comprehensive care, allowing patients to die and enabling them to have a beautiful death, were identified as the physician's duty. Honesty, well timing and completeness were determined as the guiding principles of communication. The importance of distancing and keeping in control to practice the medical profession was stressed. The burdensome nature of making therapeutic decisions was emphasized., Competing Interests: Conflict of InterestThe authors declare no competing interests., (© The Author(s) 2024.)

We have developed a peer-teaching program for student assistants involved in medical education. The offer comprises (1) an inventory of potentially relevant courses offered by other institutions at our university and (2) our own peer-teaching curriculum on pedagogy and teaching methodology. We describe a pilot scheme to implement the curriculum., Competing Interests: Competing InterestsThe authors declare no competing interests., (© The Author(s) 2024.)

From its beginnings in 2018, the international elite-master program Biomedical Neuroscience of TUM School of Medicine and Health at Technical University of Munich was guided by two convictions: First, excellent research depends not only on the mediation of scientific knowledge and skills, but also on a multifaceted understanding of science itself. Second, teaching must recognize and support not only student's growing expertise but also their personal and professional development. To this end, the module Life & Science was designed. It gives students the opportunity to explore neuroscience from different angles to deepen the epistemological, sociological, and cultural understanding of their chosen profession., (© The Author(s) 2024.)

Background: Professional identity formation (PIF) is a life-long process, starting even before professional education. High levels of motivation for medical school are essential for effective learning and academic success. Both are key factors in future physicians' professional and personal development, and according to self-determination theory, professional identity (PI) and students' levels of motivation could be closely linked. Therefore, we sought to investigate whether PI and strength of motivation for medical school are associated in new medical students., Methods: In a cross-sectional survey, all new medical students in Munich, Germany, were asked to complete the Macleod Clark Professional Identity Scale (MCPIS-9) and the Strength of Motivation for Medical School-Revised questionnaire (SMMS-R) as well as to provide information about age, gender, and waiting time before starting medical school., Results: Eight hundred eleven out of 918 new medical students participated in the survey. A positive correlation between the MCPIS-9 and the SMMS-R ( p  < 0.001) was found. Female students showed higher scores in the SMMS-R ( p  < 0.05) and the SMMS-R-subscale Readiness to Start ( p  < 0.001) . The amount of waiting semesters showed a positive correlation with the total SMMS-R score ( p  < 0.01) as well as with the subscales Readiness to Start and Persistence (both p  < 0.001)., Discussion: We found an association between PI and strength of motivation for medical school in a large cohort of new medical students. Female gender and more waiting semesters were associated with higher levels of self-perceived motivation and higher scores on the SMMS-R-subscale Readiness to Start . More research is needed to better understand this topic to further improve medical education., Competing Interests: Conflict of InterestThe authors declare no competing interests., (© The Author(s) 2023.)

With increasing globalization, many students and staff are experiencing how difficult it is to work in a different culture. Different ways of communicating, for example, can lead to misunderstandings, as the results of a small survey show. This article proposes a workshop to support people who work internationally., Competing Interests: Conflict of InterestThe authors declare no competing interests., (© The Author(s) under exclusive licence to International Association of Medical Science Educators 2022, Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

Digital technologies play an essential role in the medical sector of today and the future. In a cross-sectional online survey at a German medical university, male students more frequently reported keeping themselves informed about digital medicine outside of their studies across all clinical years of study. While female students self-assessed their knowledge in different fields of digital medicine as worse than their male peers in the first clinical years of study, no more gender differences could be found towards the final year. However, students of both genders showed a strong desire for further education on the topic of digital medicine., Competing Interests: Conflict of InterestThe authors declare no competing interests., (© The Author(s) 2022.)