gms | German Medical Science

The 4^th annual meeting of the “Arbeitskreis für die Weiterentwicklung der Lehre in der Zahnmedizin”, (AKWLZ) [Working Group for the Advancement of Dental Education] which enjoyed great interest was held on 15 and 16 June 2012 at the University of Witten/Herdecke (see Figure 1 [Fig. 1]). The first day was dedicated to the topic of “Hören - Verstehen - Behalten: Grundlagen des Lernens und der Wissensentstehung („Listening - comprehension – memorisation: basics of learning and knowledge creation“) and was covered by 3 keynote lectures.

Professor Henk Schmidt, psychologist and Rector Magnificus of the Erasmus University Rotterdam (The Netherlands) demonstrated in his fascinating and interactive presentation the basics of learning and the dependence of intrinsic motivation of the learners. Based on one of numerous techniques, Rajan Mahadevan of India, recited 1981 from memory the first 31,811 digits of pi (╥). Thus, he demonstrated that new learning techniques combined with available knowledge can enhance long-term memorisation capabilities.

Professor Hans-Jürgen Lange (Political Scientist, Witten/Herdecke) presented the knowledge transfer of the “Studium fundamentale” of the hosting University of Witten/Herdecke. Since foundation of the University, Studium fundamentale is an obligatory part of all degree programs at Witten/Herdecke University. The primary objective is to offer the students from an interdisciplinary perspective new approaches and schools of thought of various philosophical, science-based and artistic-creative issues. Compared to a solely subject and profession oriented study it offers students to increase their abilities for reflexive and behavioural competences.

In his presentation Dipl. Wirt. Ing. Alexander Ammann (Quintessenz Verlag) gave a picture of new concepts for modelling knowledge and its impact in knowledge creation and learning. Based on knowledge spaces he explained the current explosion of available knowledge and the need to structure it in semantic and for algorithm searchable models. Based on the project “K-Space in Dental Medicine” with its structure of eleven knowledge spaces in dentistry he explained the problem and task oriented navigation through the program. Furthermore he explained that this search will be aided by internet avatars in the future.

A vital discussion followed the interesting presentations prior awarding the prizes of the 2011 conference in Jena. The prizes were handed over by Professor Lisson, president elect and chair of the advisory board teaching of the VHZMK (association of the professors at dental faculties in Germany). Honoured for their presentations were Lars Kandsperger (Frankfurt) and Prof. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dominik Groß (Aachen, hand-over has taken place the previous day) as well as Melanie Epperlein and Saskia Sauer (Berlin) for their joint poster.

After a lively lunch Dr. Stefanie Janko (Frankfurt) opened the second part of the day. In her talk she compared the learning outcomes of hospital on-site visits, lecture notes and tutorial/videos. She described the individual advantages and disadvantages of the compared media concluding that an individual mix of all methods results in optimal learning outcomes.

Dr. Karin Seidler (Jena) reported of the integration of dental medicine into the interdisciplinary SkillsLab Jena. She described the development of a communication training for a medical history interview in dentistry with simulation patients and the implementation within the SkillsLab.

Her talk was followed by Dr. Ina Schüler who presented the results of the training from the student’s perspective. The training received a positive evaluation by the students and they pointed out that it helped them with the preparation for future systematic and focused medical history interviews. In addition the training was also helpful to reduce inhibitions and would prepare effectively for clinical trials.

In her presentation Dr. Jelka Erhatic (Berlin) discussed the question why preparation angles are prepared often more conical as required. Students were asked to assess machined crown preparations on phantom heads with preparation angels between -1° to 15° both with a probe and a mirror and with a device called Parallelometer-Mirror (a mirror which enables the assessment of parallel walls, also called parallelism). She confirmed that the Parallelometer-Mirror compared with dentist’s mouth mirror would not improve the estimation of angles.

Dr. Andreas Fuchss (Leipzig) portrayed the implementation of the voluntary workshop for practice management in the curriculum. The successful management of a dental practice requires, apart from dental expertise, knowledge for example of human-resource and quality management as well as know-how of practice marketing. These factors are not part of the current curriculum. Therefore it was possible to win an external speaker who worked out interesting questions of the subject-matter with the students. The evaluation has shown that the participants liked the workshop and they agreed that the topics were well presented.

Dr. Peter Schulz (Mainz) reported about the incorporation of a medical evidence based module in student courses based on the topic drainage after osteotomy of the wisdom tooth in the lower jaw. The basic EBM course dealt with a precise PICO question in accordance with the PRISMA protocol. It was followed by a systematic review of pre-defined search terms in various databases. By reviewing the clinical trials the students learned impressively how results of systematic and scientifically based experiments effect the clinical-practice based patient treatment.

The poster session started after a short coffee break. In her poster Ms Ensmann (Cologne) presented the patient reception as a suitable practice based method to train service oriented communication and social competences. The restructure of the classroom allowed the possibility to integrate the students in the reception service thus increasing communication training with the patients. Both, the patients and the students accepted this project gratefully.

The project living science – direct evaluation of adhesive systems by means of shear bond strength was described by PD Dr. Felix Krause (Leipzig). To offer students an insight into the concepts and processes of scientific based work a clear and concise research question was drawn up and worked out together with the students.

Besides preparing standardised composite samples the students became accustomed with precise data recording and the evaluation of samples. The course was given positive results during the final evaluation. It demonstrated in an exemplary way how students of dentistry are able to comprehend scientific based questions with manageable methods.

Danny Riedel (Leipzig) reported about surgical Ear-Nose-Throat trainings supported by checklists applied within the scope of quality assurance to help maintain high quality standards.

After the meeting of the AKWLZ members the day was rounded out with a guided tour to the park of Hohensyburg and a sociable dinner at a pleasant restaurant.

The theme of the second day “Lehr- und Lernforschung” (teaching and medical education research) were preceded with three key presentations/. Professor Martin Fischer (Munich) outlined the specifics of this area of expertise in his presentation and drew a bow from specialised medical didactics, general education research to the applied methods in research. He described the forthcoming progress and possible challenges also for other professions the field of health care.

Dr. Dipl.-Psych. Michaela Zupanic portrayed in her talk the field of qualitative research which for many participants was not yet widely known. She explained the principles separating them from quantitative research. Furthermore she gave comments on test criteria of qualitative studies and showed possible application models in dental education.

Techniques for literature research in teaching were illustrated by Professor Jörg Eberhard (Hannover). Based on a suitable example he explained the participants the phrasing of search terms with PICO criteria and selection of suitable databases including usage of additional information to be found in abstract booklets, conference proceedings and much more.

After a short coffee break Dr. Yvonne Wagner (Jena) presented the results of a questionnaire completed by students about their ideas how dental education should be executed. The evaluation revealed that an improved linking of dentistry and human medicine as well as a better linking of pre-clinical and clinical stages would be in favour by the students. Furthermore they prefer subjects with clear learning objectives able to be worked out thematically and interdisciplinary. Therefore students welcome the development of the national competency based learning objectives in dentistry (NKLZ).

The need for gender and diversity subjects in blended learning in orthodontics was the focus of Theresia Asselmeyer’s (Hannover) presentation. With her analysis she showed that gender-sensible subjects are quite a need in academic didactics. She recommended measures to meet different needs related to technical facilities, the experience with technical resources as well as the requirements to set-up appropriate curriculum modules.

A very interesting presentation about the training of practical skills in the teaching of dental medicine was held by Dr. Nicole Rafai and Michael Lemos (Aachen). They designed the e-module “Alginate interactive” to demonstrate the characteristics and mixing techniques of Alginate. In addition to an interactive video and a decision making video they developed an innovative gesture based exercise to train the required motions with a modified steering spoon for alginate in a playful way. This new technique was demonstrated during the presentation. Questioned the students found this technique very helpful and useful for their own training process.

Dr. Alexander Rahman (Hannover) reported of the development of an interdisciplinary module to combine numerous treatments of clinical cases from the perspectives of the maxillofacial surgeon, the restorative dentist, the prosthodontist and the orthodontist. In the final evaluation 93.3 % of the students agreed that the development of additional interdisciplinary modules within the clinical training stage would be much appreciated.

In the final presentation PD Dr. Rainer Jordan illustrated how in recent years the pre-clinical training has been developed into an integrated pre-clinical course. By means of a learning spiral the course provides a thorough range of dental treatment starting from fissure sealing up to a complete prosthetic reconstruction.

In closing the meeting Professor Petra Hahn (Freiburg) and Professor Hans-Jürgen Wenz (Kiel) thanked all speakers for their exciting presentations and all contributors for their lively participation in the discussions. On this occasion a big thank you was expressed to Professor Stefan Zimmer and his team for the excellent organisation and management of the meeting.

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.