gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: A significant percentage of medical students lacks sufficient knowledge of basic science (physics, chemistry, mathematics or biology) and therefore faces difficulties to cope with key parts of the basic medical curriculum like biochemistry or physiology [1]. We developed an innovative integrated supportive science (ISS) course program to bridge the knowledge gap of these students. The voluntary courses are embedded in the reformed medical curriculum iMED with regard to content and temporal schedule.

Objective: The objective of our study is to investigate the value of the ISS courses. We also aimed to increase students' satisfaction with the courses continuously, especially in physics.

Materials & methods: We used a mixed methods approach including focus groups with students and ISS course lecturers, and longitudinal data of fourteen end-of-module surveys of three student cohorts (2013 – 2015; N ranging from 46 to 307) [2]. The study was conducted at the University Medical Center Hamburg between October 2013 and July 2016.

Results: Fourteen first-year medical students and thirteen ISS course lecturers attended the focus groups. We identified four categories describing the value and role of the courses, setting and atmosphere, integration of the courses into the curriculum in regard to time and content, and ideas for improvement. The integrated course concept was positively accepted by both groups. Survey results confirmed the conclusions concerning students' satisfaction. Quantitative results in 2013 showed that physics ISS courses require some optimization. Within the ISS course range, physics is estimated to be more difficult for many students in comparison to the other subjects. We intended to support their learning efforts by including more medicine-related examples in course materials, by improving coordination of course contents with lecturers of regular teaching units (e.g. radiology), and by didactic training of course lecturers. Between 2014 and 2016 we observed an increase in evaluation results for the physics courses.

Conclusion: Lecturers and students very well accept our innovative concept of temporal and content-based integration of supportive science courses into the medical curriculum. It is crucial to build very close links between the ISS courses and the core curriculum.