[Modular training in practical medicine: electronic evaluation of student education in general practice]

Effective from spring 2004, new regulations for undergraduate medical education in Germany require a two-week practical training in general practice. Similar to other forms of medical education, this practical training should be regularly evaluated by students. With regard to special conditions of the training, we preferred a web based evaluation. Since adequate models were not available, we designed, implemented and tested an electronic way of evaluation. The following aspects turned out to be of special importance: teamwork, time, data protection and cost. Meanwhile, the evaluation is established and still accessible as demo-version for visitors of the home page. This electronic evaluation of medical training in general practice is highly appropriate for a timely evaluation allowing us to obtain a comparison between students' expectations and actual experience as well as a continuous supervision and to provide feedback to the participating practices. This is an important step for quality assurance of medical education in practices inside and outside the university.