Communication and social competencies in medical education in German-speaking countries: the Basel consensus statement. Results of a Delphi survey.

Objective: To propose a comprehensive set of competencies and educational objectives for communication and social competencies in undergraduate medical education and to support the nationwide implementation of these issues in all medical schools.

Methods: Thirty experts from different medical and psychosocial disciplines participated in a 2-day workshop using the Nominal Group Technique (NGT) to develop an initial set of educational objectives. These were refined, structured, and rated according to their importance by means of a two-step Delphi Survey involving additional experts in medical education.

The modern patient - threat or promise? Physicians' perspectives on patients' changing attributes.

Objective: The study focuses on physicians' ideas of their patients' attributes and examines how the German medical community employs the currently popular idea of the modern patient (mündiger Patient).

Methods: The official publication of the German medical community, the weekly journal "Deutsches Arzteblatt", was searched for articles addressing the topic of the modern patient during the 10-year period 1996-2005. A total of 73 articles were analyzed using qualitative research methods and from the perspective of discourse analysis.

Increased transcranial magnetic motor threshold after ECT. A case report.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a powerful antidepressive treatment, but its mechanism of action remains poorly understood. To clarify the influence of ECT on corticospinal tract excitability we tested the motor threshold, the motor evoked potential (MEP) input/output curve, and the intracortical excitability using transcranial magnetic stimulation in a depressed patient before and after successful treatment with ECT. Resting motor thresholds were increased bilaterally after treatment, and the input/output curve less steep.