Facebook Groups as a Powerful and Dynamic Tool in Medical Education: Mixed-Method Study.

Background: Social networking sites, in particular Facebook, are not only predominant in students' social life but are to varying degrees interwoven with the medical curriculum. Particularly, Facebook groups have been identified for their potential in higher education. However, there is a paucity of data on user types, content, and dynamics of study-related Facebook groups.

The Doktabörse - an innovative online platform for research projects at the medical faculty of the LMU Munich.

One of the most important extracurricular aspects of medical studies in Germany is a research thesis completed by most students. This research project often times conveys relevant competencies for the physician's role as scientist. Nevertheless, the choice of the right project remains a challenge.

Undergraduate Medical Students Using Facebook as a Peer-Mentoring Platform: A Mixed-Methods Study.

Background: Peer mentoring is a powerful pedagogical approach for supporting undergraduate medical students in their learning environment. However, it remains unclear what exactly peer mentoring is and whether and how undergraduate medical students use social media for peer-mentoring activities.

Objective: We aimed at describing and exploring the Facebook use of undergraduate medical students during their first 2 years at a German medical school.

Applying the Verona coding definitions of emotional sequences (VR-CoDES) to code medical students' written responses to written case scenarios: Some methodological and practical considerations.

Objective: To investigate whether the Verona Coding Definitions of Emotional Sequences to code health providers' responses (VR-CoDES-P) can be used for assessment of medical students' responses to patients' cues and concerns provided in written case vignettes.

Methods: Student responses in direct speech to patient cues and concerns were analysed in 21 different case scenarios using VR-CoDES-P.

Results: A total of 977 student responses were available for coding, and 857 responses were codable with the VR-CoDES-P.

Simulating the physician as healthcare manager: An innovative course to train for the manager role.

Introduction: During their formal studies medical students acquire extensive medical expertise. However, the medical profession demands additional competencies, such as those involved in efficient resource allocation, business administration, development, organization, and process management in the healthcare system. At present students are not sufficiently prepared for the physician's role as manager.

A prospective, randomised trial of different matching procedures for structured mentoring programmes in medical education.

Background: Spontaneous formation of mentoring relationships can be seen as the gold standard in mentoring. Unfortunately, it happens very infrequently. The purpose of structured mentoring programmes is to facilitate the formation of mentoring relationships.

The Munich-Evaluation-of-Mentoring-Questionnaire (MEMeQ)--a novel instrument for evaluating protégés' satisfaction with mentoring relationships in medical education.

Background: Despite the widespread recognition of the importance of mentoring in medical education, valid and reliable instruments for evaluating the relationship of mentors and protégés are lacking. The aim of this study was to develop a feasible instrument to measure the satisfaction with mentoring relationships.

Methods: Based on two existing questionnaires, the authors developed an instrument to evaluate the weighted satisfaction of mentoring relationships, emphasizing the protégés' individual expectations and needs.

Finding the right doctoral thesis - an innovative research fair for medical students.

Introduction: The importance of research, as promoted by the CanMEDS framework, is widely acknowledged. Many medical students in Germany work on a research project as part of their doctoral thesis whilst still going to medical school. However, a significant amount of projects are abandoned unfinished, which leads to substantial wastage of resources.

5 years of experience with a large-scale mentoring program for medical students.

In this paper we present our 5-year-experience with a large-scale mentoring program for undergraduate medical students at the Ludwig Maximilians-Universität Munich (LMU). We implemented a two-tiered program with a peer-mentoring concept for preclinical students and a 1:1-mentoring concept for clinical students aided by a fully automated online-based matching algorithm. Approximately 20-30% of each student cohort participates in our voluntary mentoring program.

The use of Facebook in medical education--a literature review.

Background: The vogue of social media has changed interpersonal communication as well as learning and teaching opportunities in medical education. The most popular social media tool is Facebook. Its features provide potentially useful support for the education of medical students but it also means that some new challenges will have to be faced.

The FacharztDuell: innovative career counselling in medicine.

Objective: The selection of a future medical specialty is a challenge all medical students face during the course of their studies. Students can choose from more than sixty specialties after graduation. There is usually no structured career counselling program available at German medical faculties.