title: Finding the right doctoral thesis - an innovative research fair for medical students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The importance of research, as promoted by the CanMEDS framework, is widely acknowledged. Many medical students in Germany work on a research project as part of their doctoral thesis whilst still going to medical school. However, a significant amount of projects are abandoned unfinished, which leads to substantial wastage of resources. One reason for this is an information deficit concerning undergraduate research projects.
  
  
  METHODS
  To counteract this, we introduced an annual event at LMU Munich called DoktaMed with more than 600 visitors each year. It combines medical convention and research fair including keynote lectures, workshops and poster sessions as well as an exhibition of research groups and institutes. DoktaMed is a peer-to-peer event organized by a team of 40 students.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A needs analysis before its implementation underlined the information deficit as a possible cause for the high rate of abandoned projects. In the annual evaluation, visitors of DoktaMed rate the event with an average grade of 2.1 on a six-level Likert scale (n=558, SD=1.06, with "1=very good", "6=poor"). They stated to now feel better informed about the topic and regarded visiting DoktaMed as a worthwhile investment of time.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Students are generally satisfied with the event and feel better informed after visiting DoktaMed. However, many students never visit DoktaMed for various reasons. A possible improvement would be to present a greater number of clinical studies in addition to the laboratory work that DoktaMed focuses on now.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Evaluation after six years of DoktaMed is very promising. Visitors seem to be better informed. Nevertheless there is space for improvement in order to get more students and more faculty members involved. More studies are needed to assess long-term effects.
authors.affiliation: Klinikum der Universität München, Institut für Didaktik und Ausbildungsforschung in der Medizin, München, Deutschland ; Klinikum der Universität München, Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik I, München, Deutschland.
authors.forename: Julius
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Steffen
authors.affiliation: Klinikum der Universität München, Institut für Didaktik und Ausbildungsforschung in der Medizin, München, Deutschland ; Klinikum der Universität München, Urologische Klinik und Poliklinik, München, Deutschland.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grabbert
authors.affiliation: Klinikum der Universität München, Institut für Didaktik und Ausbildungsforschung in der Medizin, München, Deutschland.
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pander
authors.affiliation: Klinikum der Universität München, Institut für Didaktik und Ausbildungsforschung in der Medizin, München, Deutschland.
authors.forename: Maximilian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gradel
authors.affiliation: Klinikum der Universität München, Institut für Didaktik und Ausbildungsforschung in der Medizin, München, Deutschland.
authors.forename: Lisa-Maria
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Köhler
authors.affiliation: Klinikum der Universität München, Institut für Didaktik und Ausbildungsforschung in der Medizin, München, Deutschland.
authors.forename: Martin R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: Klinikum der Universität München, Institut für Didaktik und Ausbildungsforschung in der Medizin, München, Deutschland ; Klinikum der Universität München, Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik IV, München, Deutschland.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: von der Borch
authors.affiliation: Klinikum der Universität München, Institut für Didaktik und Ausbildungsforschung in der Medizin, München, Deutschland ; Klinikum der Universität München, Neurologische Klinik und Poliklinik, München, Deutschland.
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dimitriadis
mesh_terms: D004212:Academic Dissertations as Topic; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000193:education*; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D013337:Students, Medical
keywords: CanMEDS; doctoral thesis; research fair; student research