gms | German Medical Science

Background: The 2014 recommendations from the German Council of Science and Humanities (Wissenschaftsrat) [1] called for medical programme reforms to enhance the academic preparation of physicians for complex future health care environments. New curricula developments related to doctors’ roles and competencies are required as is the need for interprofessional education to develop collaborative competencies. Heidelberg University Medical Faculty piloted an interprofessional seminar for Health Care English with the aim to promote scientific competency development in students.

Method: The interprofessional course ran over two semesters with 26 hours contact time. The competency-based course content (CanMEDS role Scholar) [2] focused on Evidence-Based Medicine and scientific competencies. This was offered as a pre-clinical elective for medical students and was a compulsory course for Bachelor of Science – Interprofessional Health Care (IPG) students. Assessment included a presentation and, for medical students, writing a “scientific essay”.

Results: 24 first-year IPG students and 8 medical students (Semester 1 to 3) attended this course. Development of the Scholar role was facilitated as students collaborated in interprofessional groups to prepare presentations based on a scientific paper. This was further enhanced as each medical student wrote a “scientific essay”.

Take Home Message: By having to synthesize information from primary scientific literature and report research findings in the form of a scientific essay written in English, medical students were able to practice the Scholar role in a supportive learning environment. The Interprofessional Seminar - Health Care English functioned as a suitable medium for scientific competency development in medical students.