Relevance of Social Medicine Skills and the Role of Teaching Formats in the Perception of Medical Students: A Retrospective Trend Study

During medical school, students in Germany acquire knowledge, abilities, competencies, and skills in social medicine. The aim of this study was to investigate how human medicine students perceive the relevance of selected social medical issues and their knowledge gain depending on different teaching formats. The study was designed as a retrospective trend study. Included were four semester cohorts (n = 597 students). Five topics were selected as seminar subjects: work incapacity, rehabilitation, (long-term) care level, graded return to work, and assistive technology for activities of daily living. A new teaching format based on problem-based learning (PBL) and peer teaching (PT) was implemented. In the seminars, each student worked on one topic by him/herself (PBL; for this topic, the student is counted within group PBL in the statistical analysis). Through the presentations of fellow students, a student received information regarding other topics (PT; for these topics, the student is counted within group PT in the statistical comparison with group PBL). 550 students completed a standardized questionnaire at the end of the seminar, rating (a) their perceived relevance of these social medical topics with regard to clinical practice and (b) the personal knowledge gain regarding all topics. The results in group PBL tended to be better than those in group PT, indicating that active engagement with socio-medical topics increases the perception of their relevance. The students benefit more from working on topics themselves than from oral presentations or lectures: the probability of stating a notable knowledge gain regarding the respective topic was significantly higher for all topics in group PBL compared with in group PT (Work incapacity: OR: 1.3 (95%-CI: 1.07; 1.58), Rehabilitation: OR 1.8 (95%-CI: 1.41; 2.20), (Long-term) care level: OR: 1.6 (95%-CI: 1.25; 1.94); Graded return to work: OR: 1.95 (95%-CI: 1.57; 2.42), Assistive technology for activities of daily living: OR: 1.8 (95%-CI: 1.45; 2.31)). Medical students can be sensitized to the clinical relevance of social medicine, particularly when they experience its practical implications via appropriate activating teaching formats. The results suggest that PBL formats are preferable for increasing awareness of socio-medical issues.