Curricula Mapping of Physician Associate/Physician Assistant-Comparable Professions Worldwide Using the Learning Opportunities, Objectives, and Outcomes Platform.

Given the international growth of physician associate/physician assistant (PA) and PA-comparable professions, it is crucial to understand the educational curricula of PA/PA-comparable professions worldwide. This article provides an overview of the process and development of the PA/PA-comparable curricula mapping design applying an international framework. It uses an innovative web-based tool, the Learning Opportunities, Objectives, and Outcomes Platform (LOOOP), to map and evaluate course content, teaching strategies, assessment formats, and learning outcomes.

Digital patient-centred learning in medical education: A national learning platform with virtual patients as part of the DigiPaL project.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the medical faculties in the Federal Republic of Germany converted their curricula to digital formats on a large scale and very quickly in spring 2020 as an emergency measure. At the same time, a start was made on the nationwide exchange of digital teaching/learning materials via the online platform "LOOOP share" in order to save local resources. Among other things, virtual patient cases (VP) were shared across faculties for case-based learning, through which students can acquire clinical decision-making skills.

Use of IFNγ/IL10 Ratio for Stratification of Hydrocortisone Therapy in Patients With Septic Shock.

Large clinical trials testing hydrocortisone therapy in septic shock have produced conflicting results. Subgroups may benefit of hydrocortisone treatment depending on their individual immune response. We performed an exploratory analysis of the database from the international randomized controlled clinical trial Corticosteroid Therapy of Septic Shock (CORTICUS) employing machine learning to a panel of 137 variables collected from the Berlin subcohort comprising 83 patients including demographic and clinical measures, organ failure scores, leukocyte counts and levels of circulating cytokines.

The Treatment of Temporomandibular Joint Dislocation.

Background: The estimated incidence of temporomandibular joint dislocation in Germany is at least 25/100 000 per year. A correct diagnosis and the initiation of appropriate treatment without delay are essential if permanent damage to the joint is to be avoided.

Methods: This review is based on pertinent publications retrieved by a systematic search in the PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, and ZB Med databases.

Shame in Medical Education: A Randomized Study of the Acquisition of Intimate Examination Skills and Its Effect on Subsequent Performance.

Theory: Although medical students are exposed to a variety of emotions, the impact of emotions on learning has received little attention so far. Shame-provoking intimate examinations are among the most memorable events for students. Their emotions, however, are rarely addressed during training, potentially leading to withdrawal and avoidance and, consequently, performance deficits.

Development and alignment of undergraduate medical curricula in a web-based, dynamic Learning Opportunities, Objectives and Outcome Platform (LOOOP).

Introduction: This study presents a web-based method and its interface ensuring alignment of all parts of a curriculum map including competencies, objectives, teaching and assessment methods, workload and patient availability. Needs, acceptance and effectiveness are shown through a nine-year study.

Methods: After a comprehensive needs assessment, the curriculum map and a web-based interface "Learning Opportunities, Objectives and Outcome Platform" (LOOOP) were developed according to Harden's conceptual framework of 10-steps for curriculum mapping.

Assessing clinical reasoning (ASCLIRE): Instrument development and validation.

Clinical reasoning is an essential competency in medical education. This study aimed at developing and validating a test to assess diagnostic accuracy, collected information, and diagnostic decision time in clinical reasoning. A norm-referenced computer-based test for the assessment of clinical reasoning (ASCLIRE) was developed, integrating the entire clinical decision process.

Symposium 'Methodology in Medical Education Research' organised by the Methodology in Medical Education Research Committee of the German Society of Medical Education May, 25th to 26th 2013 at Charité, Berlin.

In 2013, the Methodology in Medical Education Research Committee ran a symposium on "Research in Medical Education" as part of its ongoing faculty development activities. The symposium aimed to introduce to participants educational research methods with a specific focus on research in medical education. Thirty-five participants were able to choose from workshops covering qualitative methods, quantitative methods and scientific writing throughout the one and a half days.

How we avoid patient shortage with an integrated analysis of learning objectives and clinical data during development of undergraduate medical curricula.

Access to patients is a crucial factor for student-centred medical education. However, increasing numbers of students, teacher shortage, a patient spectrum consisting of rarer diseases, and quicker discharges limit this necessary access, and therefore pose a challenge for curriculum designers. The herein presented algorithm improves access to patients in four steps by using routinely available electronic patient data already during curriculum development.

Impact of sound production by wind instruments on the temporomandibular system of male instrumentalists.

Background: Playing a wind instrument can be either a reason for overuse or a protecting factor against certain diseases. Some individuals have many findings but low morbidity while others have few findings but high morbidity. This contradictory phenomenon should be researched.

Towards Web 3.0: taxonomies and ontologies for medical education -- a systematic review.

Introduction: Both for curricular development and mapping, as well as for orientation within the mounting supply of learning resources in medical education, the Semantic Web ("Web 3.0") poses a low-threshold, effective tool that enables identification of content related items across system boundaries. Replacement of the currently required manual with an automatically generated link, which is based on content and semantics, requires the use of a suitably structured vocabulary for a machine-readable description of object content.

The practial use of the consensus statement on practical skills in medical school--a validation study.

Objective: The importance of the acquisition of practical medical skills during medical school is increasing. With the consensus statement "Practical Skills," developed by the GMA as part of the National Competency-Based Learning Objective Catalogue for Medicine (NKLM), a reference frame was created for the procurement of such skills. This frame consists of 290 learning objectives divided by "organ system," type (core or elective learning objective), current stage of medical education and level of instruction.

Cadaver study of oesophageal insufflation with supraglottic airway devices during positive pressure ventilation in an obstructed airway.

Background: Supraglottic airway devices (SADs) play an increasing role in airway management in clinical anaesthesia and emergency medicine. Until now, no data exist concerning the extent of oesophageal insufflation when oropharyngeal leak pressures are exceeded.

Methods: Laryngeal masks LMA-Supreme™ and LMA-ProSeal™, laryngeal tubes LTS-D and LTS II, Combitube™, and I-Gel were inserted into unfixed human cadavers.

Early prehospital use of non-invasive ventilation improves acute respiratory failure in acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Aim: To evaluate the use of prehospital non-invasive ventilation (NIV) in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Methods: 36 adult patients were treated by prehospital NIV or standard oxygen therapy.

Results: Prehospital NIV was described as feasible by the paramedics.

[First therapy of decompression injuries].

The diving accident is a rare incident for an emergency physician which requires special physical and patho-physiological knowledge. With increasing recreational activities and the fascination of diving also for older persons diving accidents are expected to occur more often. There can be several reasons for diving accidents such as the ignorance of the physics of diving, a trauma under water as well as internistical illnesses like heart attach, stroke or hypoglycaemia.

Changes in hepatic blood flow during whole body hyperthermia.

Purpose: Changes in blood flow distribution are important for heat dispersion and for supportive therapeutic strategies such as simultaneous whole body hyperthermia (WBH) and administration of chemotherapy. The aim of this clinical study was to determine changes in hepatic blood flow during WBH for the treatment of metastatic cancer.

Materials And Methods: This observational clinical study was part of a phase I/II feasibility study of WBH.

Intraoperative thoracic epidural anaesthesia attenuates stress-induced immunosuppression in patients undergoing major abdominal surgery.

Background: Intraoperative stress may suppress the adaptive immune system. Abolished proinflammatory lymphocyte function is associated with higher risk of infection and postoperative complications. We hypothesized that thoracic epidural anaesthesia (TEA) reduces intraoperative stress and thus attenuates lymphocyte decrease and impairment of proinflammatory lymphocyte function.

Combined vs. Isoflurane/Fentanyl anesthesia for major abdominal surgery: Effects on hormones and hemodynamics.

Background: Combination of epidural and general anesthesia (combined anesthesia) avoids the intraoperative use of intravenous analgesics and may reduce the surgical stress response during major abdominal surgery. This study examines the differences in intraoperative hemodynamic stability, cortisol levels and activity of cardiovascular hormones between combined anesthesia and isoflurane/fentanyl anesthesia.

Material/methods: Sixty ASA I-II patients were prospectively randomized to receive either combined anesthesia, i.

Adjunctive therapies in severe sepsis and septic shock: current place of steroids.

For more than five decades, the use of corticosteroids as an adjunctive therapy to treat severe sepsis and septic shock has incited consistent debate. Negative results of the Corticosteroid Therapy of Septic Shock (CORTICUS) study evoked a revision of Surviving Sepsis Campaign guidelines suggesting a more restricted use of low-dose hydrocortisone only in patients with severe septic shock. Hemodynamic improvement by low-dose steroids was evident and independent from adrenal insufficiency, but did not improve survival.

A clinical pilot study of fresh frozen plasma versus human albumin in paediatric craniofacial repair.

Paediatric craniofacial surgery (pCFS) regularly requires transfusion of packed red blood cells (pRBC). In this clinical pilot study two different transfusion regimens were prospectively compared concerning pRBC transfusions, postoperative bleeding and other clinical parameters. Thirty infants (aged < 12 months) scheduled for pCFS were assigned to receive fresh frozen plasma (FFP-group, n = 15) or 5% human albumin (HA-group, n = 15) during the entire surgical procedure.

The effect of induced hyperthermia on the immune system.

Therapeutical hyperthermia has been considered for cancer therapy since William Coley observed tumour remission after induction of fever by bacterial toxins at the end of the 19th century. Because fever is associated with a variety of immunological reactions, it has been suspected, that therapeutical hyperthermia might also activate the immune system in a reproducible manner and thereby positively influence the course of the disease. During the last decade, new insight has been gained regarding the immunological changes taking place during therapeutic hyperthermia.

Intraoperative fresh-frozen plasma versus human albumin in craniofacial surgery--a pilot study comparing coagulation profiles in infants younger than 12 months.

The transfusion of fresh-frozen plasma (FFP) is suggested to minimize dilution coagulopathy when applied instead of colloids during paediatric craniofacial surgery (pCFS). We prospectively compared plasmatic haemostaseologic function between volume replacement with FFPs versus human albumin (HA) in a pilot study. Thirty infants with primary craniosynostosis were scheduled for pCFS.

Impact of bolus application of low-dose hydrocortisone on glycemic control in septic shock patients.

Objective: To determine whether glycemic control is less feasible when hydrocortisone is given as a bolus compared with continuous application in septic shock patients.

Design: Observational prospective pilot study.

Setting: Fourteen-bed surgical university hospital ICU.

Goal-directed therapy of cardiac preload in induced whole-body hyperthermia.

Objectives: To optimize volume therapy during induced whole-body hyperthermia (WBH) < or = 42.2 degrees C, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) and intrathoracic blood volume index (ITBVI) were compared as goal parameters.

Design: Prospective clinical study.