Abstract
Objective
Occupation has a large impact on health in Europe. In order to prevent and recognize occupational diseases, medical students and physicians should know about the potentially causal relationship between profession and diseases as well as the basic legal aspects of occupational medicine (OM). However, the opportunity of bedside teaching, the students’ most favoured way of teaching, is limited.
Methods
One possibility to complete and improve traditional training in OM is computer-oriented case-based learning. Using the authoring system “CASUS” (INSTRUCT AG) cases can be created and handled without knowledge in computer sciences.
Results
So far, 19 cases have been created and evaluated by students of German universities. Due to the great efforts arising from the creation of such multimedia cases it is desirable and cost-effective to use the existing cases at several medical universities. Therefore, the Net-based Training in Work-Related Medicine (NetWoRM) project shares cases on an international base. In February and April 2005, 13 case-authors from 12 centres were trained in the basics of case creation during a 3 week programme in Munich. The overall evaluation of the participants indicated that this way of teaching case creation is very efficient. Up to now, nine cases were translated into English and five into Spanish. First implementation of the cases in Spain and Finland showed a good acceptance by the students but more evaluation has still to be done.
Conclusion
Based on these results we conclude that exchange of case-based e-learning in OM is feasible and rewarding on an international base.
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Acknowledgments
The project has been funded by grants of the Klaus Tschira Stiftung gGmBH, the Virtual University of Bavaria, Bayhost, the European Union (116470-CP-1-2004-1-DE-MINERVA-M), the Lieselotte and Dr. Karl-Otto Winkler-Foundation for Occupational Medicine, the German Academic Exchange Service and La Caixa Barcelona. The NetWoRM partners are: Germany: Joachim Beitner (Regensburg), Dirk Rose and Stephan Letzel (Mainz), Ralf Wegner (Hamburg), Monika Rieger (Witten-Herdecke), Annekatrin Bergmann and Regina Skoelziger (Halle), Hans Drexler (Erlangen), Thomas Baumeister (Erlangen), Eva Haufe (Dresden), Silvester Siegmann (Düsseldorf), Reinhard Bartsch (Jena), Barbara Beer (Munich), Martin Adler (Munich); UK: Arun Dev Vellore, Sherwood Burge (Birmingham); Spain: Mamen Bellido (Valencia), Begona Martinez-Jarreta (Albacete), Eduard Monso and Elena Riu (Badalona), Poland: Marcin Golec, Anna Gora and Anna Krol (Lublin); Romania: Elena Ana Pauncu and Florina Gherman (Timisoara); Finland: Paula Melart and Kristiina Mukala (Helsinki); Belgium: Raphael Masschelein and Lode Godderis (Leuven); France: Maria Gonzalez, Janine and Alain Cantineau (Strasbourg); Austria: Karin Elisabeth Schmidt and Jasminka Godnic-Cvar (Vienna); Switzerland: Yves Grassioulet and Brigitta Danuser (Lausanne); Canada: Garry Liss (Toronto), Louis Patry (Montreal); USA: Max Lum (Washington); Colombia: Julietta Rodgriguez-Guzman and Maria Teresa Espinosa Restrepo (Bogotta), India: Norbert Wagner and Jayachandran Paulsamy (Chennai). We are grateful for the expert review and for the students’ helpful comments. We thank the companies for the possibility to use workplace movies and the actors for participating in case creation.
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Kolb, S., Reichert, J., Hege, I. et al. European dissemination of a web- and case-based learning system for occupational medicine: NetWoRM Europe. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 80, 553–557 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-006-0164-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-006-0164-x