Health systems need medical professionals who can and will work in outpatient settings, such as general practitioner practices or health centres. However, medical students complete only a small portion of their medical training there. Furthermore, this type of training is sometimes seen as inferior to training in academic medical centres and university hospitals. Hence, the healthcare system’s demand and the execution of medical curricula do not match. Robust concepts for better alignment of both these parts are lacking. This study aims to (1) describe decentral learning environments in the context of traditional medical curricula and (2) derive ideas for implementing such scenarios further in existing curricula in response to particular medicosocietal needs.This study is designed as qualitative cross-national comparative education research. It comprises three steps: first, two author teams consisting of course managers from Brazil and Germany write a report on change management efforts in their respective faculty. Both teams then compare and comment on the other’s report. Emerging similarities and discrepancies are categorised. Third, a cross-national analysis is conducted on the category system.Stakeholders of medical education (medical students, teaching faculty, teachers in decentral learning environments) have differing standards, ideals and goals that are influenced by their own socialisation—prominently, Flexner’s view of university hospital training as optimal training. We reiterate that both central and decentral learning environments provide meaningful complementary learning opportunities. Medical students must be prepared to navigate social aspects of learning and accept responsibility for communities. They are uniquely positioned to serve as visionaries and university ambassadors to communities. As such, they can bridge the gap between university hospitals and decentral learning environments.

BackgroundInternationally, teledermatology has proven to be a viable alternative to conventional physical referrals. Travel cost and referral times are reduced while patient safety is preserved. Especially patients from rural areas benefit from this healthcare innovation. Despite these established facts and positive experiences from EU neighboring countries like the Netherlands or the United Kingdom, Germany has not yet implemented store-and-forward teledermatology in routine care.MethodsThe TeleDerm study will implement and evaluate store-and-forward teledermatology in 50 general practitioner (GP) practices as an alternative to conventional referrals. TeleDerm aims to confirm that the possibility of store-and-forward teledermatology in GP practices is going to lead to a 15% (n = 260) reduction in referrals in the intervention arm. The study uses a cluster-randomized controlled trial design. Randomization is planned for the cluster “county”. The main observational unit is the GP practice. Poisson distribution of referrals is assumed. The evaluation of secondary outcomes like acceptance, enablers and barriers uses a mixed-methods design with questionnaires and interviews.DiscussionDue to the heterogeneity of GP practice organization, patient management software, information technology service providers, GP personal technical affinity and training, we expect several challenges in implementing teledermatology in German GP routine care. Therefore, we plan to recruit 30% more GPs than required by the power calculation. The implementation design and accompanying evaluation is expected to deliver vital insights into the specifics of implementing telemedicine in German routine care.Trial registrationGerman Clinical Trials Register, DRKS00012944. Registered prospectively on 31 August 2017.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13063-018-2955-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Symptom Checker Applications (SCA) are mobile applications often designed for the end-user to assist with symptom assessment and self-triage. SCA are meant to provide the user with easily accessible information about their own health conditions. However, SCA raise questions regarding ethical, legal, and social aspects (ELSA), for example, regarding fair access to this new technology. The aim of this scoping review is to identify the ELSA of SCA in the scientific literature. A scoping review was conducted to identify the ELSA of SCA. Ten databases (e.g., Web of Science and PubMed) were used. Studies on SCA that address ELSA, written in English or German, were included in the review. The ELSA of SCA were extracted and synthesized using qualitative content analysis. A total of 25,061 references were identified, of which 39 were included in the analysis. The identified aspects were allotted to three main categories: (1) Technology; (2) Individual Level; and (3) Healthcare system. The results show that there are controversial debates in the literature on the ethical and social challenges of SCA usage. Furthermore, the debates are characterised by a lack of a specific legal perspective and empirical data. The review provides an overview on the spectrum of ELSA regarding SCA. It offers guidance to stakeholders in the healthcare system, for example, patients, healthcare professionals, and insurance providers and could be used in future empirical research to investigate the perspectives of those affected, such as users.

In Germany, two-week clinical clerkships in university-associated general practices have existed since 2002. Approximately 10,000 medical students participate in these decentral clerkships each year. Empirical information on quality management strategies in decentral learning environments is sparse. This nationwide study aims to describe the current quality management efforts of German family medicine departments in response to negative events. A nationwide three-part mixed methods study on the quality management of family medicine clerkships was conducted. First, individuals from n = 37 family medicine departments involved in the organization of family medicine clerkships were interviewed. Interview transcripts were analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Second, a questionnaire on quality management of decentralized learning environments based on the categories of the analysis was developed and sent to the departments. Three negative event cases in family medicine clerkships were included in the questionnaire. Third, interview and survey data were integrated based on respondents' process descriptions of how each department handled the cases. Of the 37 contacted departments, n = 12 (32%) performed an interview. Major categories of negative events included problems in the student-teacher interaction, didactical challenges, and problematic student behavior. Twenty departments answered at least one questionnaire (54%). Most respondents indicated that their department conducts quality management in decentralized teaching. Negative events in decentral family medicine clerkships occurred at a rate of 66.4 to 179.5 events per 10.000 Students per semester. The mixed-method analysis showed that departments are conscious about quality management issues in decentral learning environments but adhere to heterogeneous local standards. Negative events occur regularly in decentral learning environments. Local quality management processes exist but lack national harmonization. Further outcome-based research is needed to explore the effectiveness and feasibility of quality management strategies. This will become increasingly relevant with an expected upscaled family medicine content.

Changes in normal lung sounds are an important sign of pathophysiological processes in the bronchial system and lung tissue. For the diagnosis of bronchial asthma, coughing and wheezing are important symptoms that indicate the existence of obstruction. In particular, nocturnal long-term acoustic monitoring and assessment make sense for qualitative and quantitative detection and documentation. Previous methods used for lung function diagnosis require active patient cooperation that is not possible during sleep. We developed a mobile device based on the CORSA standard that allows the recording of respiratory sounds throughout the night. To date, we have recorded 133 patients with different diagnoses (80 male, 53 female), of whom 38 were children. In 68 of the patients we could detect cough events and in 87 we detected wheezing. The recording method was tolerated by all participating adults and children. Our mobile system allows non-invasive and cooperation-independent nocturnal monitoring of acoustic symptoms in the domestic environment, especially at night, when most ailments occur.