Welcome to the website of the Institute of Research in Health Sciences Education of the Faculty of Health Sciences Brandenburg. You will find us on the Neuruppin campus of the Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane (MHB).
Our vision is competence-based, interprofessional education and training that is geared towards the individual needs of each learner. This means moving away from confronting all learners with identical learning and teaching content in a ‘watering can’ approach. Accordingly, our research focus includes principles and concepts for the development of transparent, coherent and coordinated curricula – especially at the transition from initial to continuing education. The central building blocks are self-determined learning, individual-oriented teaching and feedback-oriented assessment.
At the heart of our research activities is the international LOOOP education research network, which we coordinate and in which around 200 health science degree programs (including 40 medical degree programs) from 42 countries are currently networked. This network is coordinated in close cooperation with the Institute of Medical Informatics and the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine CCM/CVK at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Medical Faculty Association of the Federal Republic of Germany. Further information on the almost 20-year history of our training research network can be found at http://looop-projekt.org.
If you have any ideas for educational research projects – in the field of basic research or in conjunction with training or further education – please do not hesitate to contact us. We would be happy to advise you or design studies together with you as part of our research network.
Location: Brandenburg Medical School, Building O, Office 310, Fehrbelliner Straße 38, 16816 Neuruppin
2025
Waldvogel TEE, Link M, Pedrazzini G, Jennebach J, Goldhahn J, Ahlers O. How to use curriculum mapping to ensure a coherent and coordinated learning spiral in a competenc-based medical curriculum across two medical universities. BMC Med Educ. 2025:25:1364. (Link)
Theurich T, Holzhausen Y, Ahlers O, Peters H. Mapping the undergraduate medical curriculum of the Charité Berlin against the National Competence-Based Catalogue of Learning Objectives (NKLM 2.0). GMS J Med Educ. 2025;42(4):Doc46 (Link)
Szydlak R, Kiyak YS, Hege I, Torre D, Kononowicz AA. Comparison of Human and GPT-Generated Concept Maps in a Clinical Reasoning Collection of Educational Virtual Patients. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2025;327:1024-1028. (Link)
Fąferek J, Kononowicz AA, Bogutska N, Da Silva Domingues V, Davydova N, Frankowska A, Iguacel I, Mayer A, Morin L, Pavlyukovich N, Popova I, Shchudrova T, Sudacka M, Szydlak R, Hege I. Applying generative artificial intelligence to plan and create a realistic collection of virtual patients for clinical reasoning training. BMC Med Educ. 2025;25(1):1277. (Link)
Szydlak R, Selim Y, Hege I, Górski S, Linglart L, Shchudrova T, Torre D, Kononowicz AA. Can AI Support Clinical Reasoning Concept Map-Based Training? A Comparative Study of Human and GPT-Generated Concept Maps in an International Collection of Virtual Patients. Med Teach.2025;1-9. (Link)
Mahmud A, Abdullah Z, Majid MA, Aziz M, Smalley S, Showstark M. Malaysian assistant medical officers: The profession’s history, education, practices, and future. JAAPA 2025; 38(9):e9-e14. (Link)
Colletti T, Smalley S, Bruza-Augatis M, Heistermann P, Becker D, Mahmud A, Norris N, Kilgore J, Tshotetsi L, Juarez L, Fahringer D, Showstark M. Comparing Physician Associate/Assistant and Comparable Online and Hybrid Training Programs – A Global Perspective. Medical Research Archives. 2025;13(5): 1-7. (Link)
2024
Smalley S, Bruza-Augatis M, Colletti T, Heistermann P, Mahmud A, Song D, Juarez L, Tshotetsi L, Fahringer D, Smith J, Ahlers O, Showstark M. Curricula Mapping of Physician Associate/Physician Assistant-Comparable Professions Worldwide Using the Learning Opportunities, Objectives, and Outcomes Platform. J Physician Assist Educ. 2024;35(1):108-15. (Link)
Mayer A, Sudacka M, Kononowicz AA, Müller A, Hege I. Collaborative Development of Feedback Concept Maps for Virtual Patient-Based Clinical Reasoning Education: A Mixed-Methods Study. JMIR Med Educ. 2024.11:e57331. (Link)
Pedersen K, Smalley S, Dehn R. 2024. The PA profession: A worldwide phenomenon revisited. J Am Acad Physician Assoc. 2024. 37(11):1. (Link)
Turkewitz A, Sallen J, Smith RM, Pitchford K, Kay L, Smalley S. 2024. The benefits and limitations of establishing the physician associate profession globally: a systematic review and mixed method study. J Am Acad Physician Assoc. 2024;37(11):1-51. (Link)
Wagner FL, Sudacka M, Kononowicz AA, Elvén M, Durning SJ, Hege I, Huwendiek S. Current status and ongoing needs for the teaching and assessment of clinical reasoning – an international mixed-methods study from the students’ and teachers’ perspective. BMC Med Educ. 2024;24(1):622. (Link)
Fąferek J, Cariou PL, Hege I, Mayer A, Morin L, Rodriguez-Molina D, Sousa-Pinto B, Kononowicz AA. Integrating virtual patients into undergraduate health professions curricula: a framework synthesis of stakeholders’ opinions based on a systematic literature review. BMC Med Educ. 2024;24(1):727. (Link)
Smalley S, Mgobozi A. South Africa celebrates 15 years of clinical associates. J Am Acad Physician Assist. 2024;37(2):1-5. (Link)
Muraleedharan M, Sundar G, Smalley S, Begg P, Philip D. 2024. Exploring Potential Challenges in Implementing a Standardized Curriculum for the Physician Associate Program in India: Insights from Stakeholder Discussions. J Physician Assist Educ 2024;35(4):1–4. (Link)
