The Importance Of Different Topics In Medical Psychology/Sociology From Physicians' And Medical Students' View: Similarities And Differences

Background The subject of "Medical Psychology/Sociology" is facing various content changes as a result of the currently pending study reforms within the framework of the "Master Plan Medical Studies 2020". These include the further development of the catalogues of exam-relevant topics (GK) and the National Competence-Based Learning Objectives Catalogue for Undergraduate Medical Education (NKLM) as well as the Medical Licensing Regulations (aApprO). In this context, the question arises as to which training contents of "medical psychology/sociology", that medical students are confronted with, are of particular importance for their future medical work.Methods 332 physicians and 265 students evaluated different contents of the catalogue of exam-relevant topics of medical psychology/sociology (GK-MPS) according to their importance regarding their education or respectively their daily work. In addition, the physicians indicated in free text fields of the questionnaire which situations in their daily work they would have liked to have been better prepared for during medical school. In a combined quantitative-qualitative analysis approach, differences between the 2 groups were identified by t-tests for independent samples with unequal variances (Welch test) and free text information was assigned to the various topics of the GK-MPS and evaluated in terms of content by 3 raters within the framework of a qualitatively oriented category-based text analysis.Results Both physicians and students considered those topics of the GK-MPS, that involve communication between physician and patient, to be the most important. In addition, physicians rated the topics of physician-patient communication, statistics and prevention as more important than the students did. The physicians would have liked to have been better prepared for special and challenging medical situations in physician-patient interaction.Discussion The topics of physician-patient communication are still considered to be of particular importance for the medical training of physicians and students, but physicians consider them to be more important than students.Conclusion The study results support the current study reforms towards a stronger emphasis on physician-patient communication and scientific basics as well as the linking of pre-clinical and clinical study contents.