[What competences do medical students acquire in a surgical internship?-Curriculum mapping with the National Competence-based Catalogue of Learning Objectives in Medicine (NKLM) 1.0].

Abstract

Background: Curriculum mapping describes the process indexing a curriculum to identify academic gaps. The first version of the National Competence-based Catalogue of Learning Objectives in Medicine (NKLM 1.0) was created to catalogue the content of medical studies and to promote the implementation of competence-oriented learning objectives. It is unclear and not transparent to what extent learning objectives are achieved in existing courses, particularly in clinical internships that cannot be standardized.

Objective: The aim of the work was to map the achieved learning objectives of the NKLM 1.0. within a surgical internship from the students' perspectives.

Material and methods: Medical students mapped their achieved learning objectives after a 2-week internship with an online questionnaire. In addition, sociodemographic data, the type of teaching hospital and the surgical specialty were recorded.

Results: A total of 81 students participated in the mapping. After the internship 8.78 ± 5.10% (min. = 1.01%; max. = 29.84%) of all learning objectives were achieved by the students. Most of the learning objectives come from section 1 "medical roles" with 29.92 ± 15.22% (min. = 0.00%; max. = 63.10%). From section 2 "medical knowledge, clinical skills and professional attitudes", learning objectives from chapters 14b "clinical practical skills" (15.49 ± 7.78%, min. = 0.00%; max. = 41.30%) and 14c "medical counseling technique" (22.98 ± 16.47%, min. = 0.00%; max. = 70.69%) were primarily named. There were no significant differences between the sexes, the surgical specialty or the size of the teaching hospital.

Conclusion: Students state that they mainly achieve learning objectives in the area of medical roles and clinical practical skills during an internship. Additional teaching formats seem to be necessary to teach specific surgical skills, diagnostics and treatment.