Clinical relevance of ORL-related content in the curriculum from the student´s perspective

The field of Otorhinolaryngology is often regarded as a side issue in many university curricula of medical education departments. Against the background of current didactic practice, in which ORL is presented to students with few courses in the later tracks of academic studies, the present study addresses the question of whether students recognize the clinical relevance of teaching and learning content for their later professional activity.

In order to test this hypothesis, a questionnaire was designed and distributed in various teaching formats in the 7th  and 9th  semester. In addition to basic data, any previously learned professions and current specialization requirements for continuing education training were collected. Furthermore, the respondents assessed the relevance of the content learned during their studies for clinical work on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 10 (very high).

Out of the 80 participants, the relevance of ORL-related content for later clinical work was amounted to an average of 6.82. The average age of those who answered with a value of 9 or higher was around 4.8 years above that of those who stated a value of 3 or lower.

It is noticeable that the group of respondents with above-average ratings expressed a special interest in head-and-neck surgery (Neurology, ENT, Maxillofacial Surgery), while only one student expressed a request for another surgical specialization. An equally distributed number of students interested in surgical and internal medicine subjects was found within the group of below-average ratings.

The visibility of Otorhinolaryngology among medicine students seems not only present in the direct context of discipline related interests.

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Artikel online veröffentlicht:
24. Mai 2022