Curricular Analysis of the Promotion of Critical Online Reasoning in University Studies in Human Medicine in Germany

As the medical landscape digitally evolves, future physicians encounter challenges as information retrieval occurs more frequently on the Internet, regarded essential in medical practice, including diagnostics. Simultaneously, prospective physicians express feeling unprepared for their careers, lacking skills for effective Internet use in medical decision-making. Scientific skills are perceived to be insufficiently integrated into university curricula. Graduates emphasize the importance of skills for critically navigating online media, stressing its practical relevance and the need for adequate instruction during their studies. This study uses qualitative content analysis to assess the promotion of this skillset within the module manuals and examination regulations of all 43 state-maintained human medicine programs in Germany. By systematically comparing regular and model curricula, we have identified specific differences in the promotion of underlying skills. Findings reveal deficits in promoting targeted skills and at the same time provide guidance for ongoing revisions of the National Competence-Based Catalog of Learning Objectives in medical higher education.