Abstract
BackgroundStudies have demonstrated the importance of role models in medical education. Medical students in Germany participate in clinical placements (“Famulatur”) that last 4 months in total and represent the first real-world setting where students encounter possible role models in their clinical education. These placements are an extracurricular activity, however, and regarded as the “black box” of medical education. This study aimed to evaluate whether and how students experience role models during clinical placements, the qualities associated with potential role models and whether role model-related learning gains are relevant.MethodsWe recruited 96 students (mean age: 23.83 years; 75% female) in their 5th to 9th semesters at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ulm, Germany, who were participating in a clinical placement between July and October 2015. Participants completed a questionnaire at the beginning of a 5-day working week to record sociodemographic and other information and another one at the end of the week to assess various aspects of their experiences. On each of the 5 days, they completed a structured questionnaire to record their perceived role models and self-assessed learning gains.ResultsRole models and role modelling play an important role in clinical placements. The positive function of medical staff as role models predominated (88.4%) across all specialties. Junior doctors were the most frequently perceived role models (28.5%), followed by consultants (25.1%) and nursing staff (22.4%). The most commonly perceived positive quality was the interaction with students (16.5%), followed by team behaviour (13.6%), interaction with patients (13.6%) and professional expertise (13.4%). Students also had various kinds of learning gains such as knowledge or skills.ConclusionsAlthough these clinical placements are extracurricular activities in Germany and their content is not regulated, they are home to a relevant amount of role modelling. Students experience the various medical professions in different roles and in a range of tasks and interactions. Defining basic learning objectives could help to increase the relevance of these placements for the medical curriculum in Germany and transfer the associated learning gains from the hidden to the open curriculum.
Highlights
Studies have demonstrated the importance of role models in medical education
Role models and role modelling play an important role in medical training but because of their often implicit nature [1, 2], less attention is paid to the related didactical approaches or teaching methods
Quantitative perception of role models during the clinical placement Role models were perceived in a mean of 9.24 (SD 1.23) of 10 potential opportunities
Summary
Medical students in Germany participate in clinical placements (“Famulatur”) that last 4 months in total and represent the first real-world setting where students encounter possible role models in their clinical education. A growing number of studies indicate the importance of role models in medical education They play a decisive role in the development of professionalism [3], which is why students consider positive role models to be especially important in their learning environment [4]. Role models influence students in their career decisions [5], affect their choice of the clinical field for advanced medical training [6], and the professional behaviour of teachers has been identified as the most important factor influencing postgraduate education choices [7]. The relationship between positive and negative role models and career choices has been demonstrated in several fields, outside medicine [8,9,10,11]
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