Preface

We would like to present, with great pleasure, the second issue of the inaugural volume of a new scholarly journal, “MEFANET Journal (Mefanet J)”. This journal follows the edition of the annual proceedings RITM report 01-02 and MEFANET report 01-05, published between 2005 and 2012. It is devoted to the gamut of medical education science issues, from theoretical aspects to application-dependent studies and the validation of emerging technologies. This new journal was envisioned and founded to represent the growing needs of computational science as an emerging and increasingly vital field, now widely recognized as an integral part of medical education scientific and technical investigations. Its mission is to become the premier vehicle for disseminating information about MEdical FAculties NETwork, which covers all Czech and Slovak medical faculties as well as schools or faculties of health care sciences.

This second issue includes two detailed editorial reports, one review and four original articles. The editorial material by Štourač P. et al. address the fifth annual AKUTNE.CZ congress, which was held in Brno during November 2013 and which attracted more than six hundred participants interested in advances in acute medicine. The other editorial material by Ban N. reports on the 45-year history and activities of the Japan Society for Medical Education. The review by Kiško A. et al. covers a very important problem in the current medicine: measurements of physical activity, which play a key role in internal medicine, pediatric medicine, orthopaedics, traumatology, physiotherapy etc. Authors of the original articles in this issue explore the potential of information and communication technologies in various domains of medical education. Sochorova et al. shares many years of experience of one particular medical faculty with the blended learning method and with the learning management system Moodle. Štourač P. et al. provides interesting insights into the interactive tools of the AKUTNE.CZ and SEPSIS-Q.CZ portals for problem-based learning (PBL) sessions. PBL sessions structured with the use of simulated cases represent an effective method for improving critical thinking and clinical reasoning skills of students who will once become physicians, dentists or nurses. The critical thinking and clinical competences are highlighted also in the article by Miertova et al. focused on professional training of nurses.

This second issue would not have been possible without the great support of the Editorial Board members and reviewers – I would like to express my sincere thanks to all of them. I would also like to express my gratitude to the honorary advisors of the journal: assoc. prof. Ladislav Dušek, prof. Vladimír Mihál, prof. Aleš Ryška and prof. Stanislav Štípek. I hope that the second issue of the MEFANET Journal will be another valuable resource for the MEFANET community and will stimulate further research into the vibrant area of medical education science

December 2013

Daniel Schwarz
Editor-in-chief