The representatives of the medical faculties met for the 2020 Medical School Day the pandemic only virtually. Their assessment was positive: University medicine has mastered the challenges of the last few months well.
Relief and pride always resonate when representatives of university medicine talk about the COVID-19 pandemic and how to deal with it. "We passed huge test in our three core tasks - research, teaching and supply - three times with excellent results," said Prof. Dr. med. Matthias Frosch, President of the Medical Faculty Day (MFT), the 81st Ordinary Medical Faculty Day (oMFT) on June 11th in Berlin. The oMFT was originally supposed to take place at the Medical Faculty in Essen for two days, but due to the corona pandemic, it was now explicitly devoted to the challenges that university medicine had to face in its three core areas during the pandemic as short virtual meeting.
Firstly, there is health care: In this area, university medicine made key contribution during the pandemic, stressed Frosch. And not only because the patients with particularly severe disease courses would have been treated predominantly in university medical facilities, but also because the university medicine took on central control and coordination tasks and advised authorities and politicians in most locations and the sector boundaries that have existed in everyday care
Good communication culture
“Together with hospitals in the region, the resident doctors and the public health service, the university medical institutions have assumed regional responsibility for the management of the pandemic and for the Organized sector boundaries of outpatient and inpatient, university and non-university medicine and implemented the corresponding measures, ”emphasized the MFT President. Now it is important to think about the organization of health care in fundamentally cross-sectoral manner. The MFT and the Association of German Uniklinika (VUD) are in agreement on this.
Prof. Dr. med. Christopher Baum, Vice President Medicine at the University of Lübeck and member of the MFT Presidium, the currently prevailing communication culture. “Never before has there been so much exchange between the faculties,” he reported during the panel discussion.
The representatives of the medical faculties met for the 2020 Medical School Day the pandemic only virtually. Their assessment was positive: University medicine has mastered the challenges of the last few months well.
Relief and pride always resonate when representatives of university medicine talk about the COVID-19 pandemic and how to deal with it. "We passed huge test in our three core tasks - research, teaching and supply - three times with excellent results," said Prof. Dr. med. Matthias Frosch, President of the Medical Faculty Day (MFT), the 81st Ordinary Medical Faculty Day (oMFT) on June 11th in Berlin. The oMFT was originally supposed to take place at the Medical Faculty in Essen for two days, but due to the corona pandemic, it was now explicitly devoted to the challenges that university medicine had to face in its three core areas during the pandemic as short virtual meeting.
Firstly, there is health care: In this area, university medicine made key contribution during the pandemic, stressed Frosch. And not only because the patients with particularly severe disease courses would have been treated predominantly in university medical facilities, but also because the university medicine took on central control and coordination tasks and advised authorities and politicians in most locations and the sector boundaries that have existed in everyday care
Good communication culture
“Together with hospitals in the region, the resident doctors and the public health service, the university medical institutions have assumed regional responsibility for the management of the pandemic and for the Organized sector boundaries of outpatient and inpatient, university and non-university medicine and implemented the corresponding measures, ”emphasized the MFT President. Now it is important to think about the organization of health care in fundamentally cross-sectoral manner. The MFT and the Association of German Uniklinika (VUD) are in agreement on this.
Prof. Dr. med. Christopher Baum, Vice President Medicine at the University of Lübeck and member of the MFT Presidium, the currently prevailing communication culture. “Never before has there been so much exchange between the faculties,” he reported during the panel discussion.There would also have been very good interaction at the interfaces between the authorities and the universities, ”he concluded. “The basic attitude was characterized by solidarity. There were no norms, but shared values. ”
Also ministerial director Markus Algermissen, head of the medical and professional law subdivision in the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG), praised the cooperation between universities and politics in recent weeks. Although there were different structures in politics and science, overarching crisis teams quickly formed and cooperated well, he said.
Reform of medical studies
"That was also necessary because of the many regulations Had to go faster than usual. ”Now politics will be able to devote itself to other issues, announced Algermissen. Work on reforming medical studies would now continue. "In doing so, we will also include the experiences from the time of the pandemic," he said.
The representatives of the university medicine also expressed their hope in Berlin that their achievements during the crisis will also be taken into account elsewhere. Frosch was disappointed that university medicine was not included in the federal government's corona stimulus package. "Once again, it seems that chance to address the high, pent-up investment needs has been wasted," he complained. As successful as the work has been in the past few weeks: University medicine has also clearly felt its limits.
"Now we have to be careful not to lose sight of the innovative strength of the universities despite all the improvisational power that we have shown," warned the MFT president. Now at the latest, when university medicine has achieved above-average performance in the corona pandemic, it should not be denied access to the structural funds, "demanded Frosch.
In addition to health care, the research area was also exposed to major changes during the pandemic:" The constant adjustments to new situations were great challenges, ”explained Prof. Dr. med. Britta Siegmund, Vice President of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and Director of the Medical Clinic for Gastroenterology, Infectiology and Rheumatology at the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. There was great team spirit nationwide, explicitly also at the interface between health care and research, she said. Now it is important to return to normal operations, including in research operations.There would also have been very good interaction at the interfaces between the authorities and the universities, ”he concluded. “The basic attitude was characterized by solidarity. There were no norms, but shared values. ”
Also ministerial director Markus Algermissen, head of the medical and professional law subdivision in the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG), praised the cooperation between universities and politics in recent weeks. Although there were different structures in politics and science, overarching crisis teams quickly formed and cooperated well, he said.
Reform of medical studies
"That was also necessary because of the many regulations Had to go faster than usual. ”Now politics will be able to devote itself to other issues, announced Algermissen. Work on reforming medical studies would now continue. "In doing so, we will also include the experiences from the time of the pandemic," he said.
The representatives of the university medicine also expressed their hope in Berlin that their achievements during the crisis will also be taken into account elsewhere. Frosch was disappointed that university medicine was not included in the federal government's corona stimulus package. "Once again, it seems that chance to address the high, pent-up investment needs has been wasted," he complained. As successful as the work has been in the past few weeks: University medicine has also clearly felt its limits.
"Now we have to be careful not to lose sight of the innovative strength of the universities despite all the improvisational power that we have shown," warned the MFT president. Now at the latest, when university medicine has achieved above-average performance in the corona pandemic, it should not be denied access to the structural funds, "demanded Frosch.
In addition to health care, the research area was also exposed to major changes during the pandemic:" The constant adjustments to new situations were great challenges, ”explained Prof. Dr. med. Britta Siegmund, Vice President of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and Director of the Medical Clinic for Gastroenterology, Infectiology and Rheumatology at the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. There was great team spirit nationwide, explicitly also at the interface between health care and research, she said. Now it is important to return to normal operations, including in research operations.
Scientific publication practice has also changed: “In just five months, Pubmed listed 20,000 publications of COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2. It has never been easier to publish in the best journals, ”said Frosch. But there is also another side to this: With this dynamic and the high pressure of public expectations, scientific quality standards could fall by the wayside, he warned.
This development is not surprising for the MFT President, but he believes it is dangerous. Study results that have been published in advance but have not yet been finally analyzed also pose risk. "The expectations of the public to present solutions for the control of the pandemic with drugs, vaccines, and epidemiological assessments as quickly as possible, contradict the necessary care in data collection and compliance with scientific quality standards," said Frosch with swipe at some representations in the Press. In the interests of their credibility and the trust of society in medical research, the medical faculties are obliged to ensure that quality standards apply. In addition, they would also have to protect their scientists from “pseudo-experts' addiction to validity”.
But the pandemic also brought about positive developments, for example the implementation of the National Research Network of University Medicine on COVID-19, which brings together all university medical locations and is funded by the Federal Ministry of Research (BMBF) with 150 million euros. Frosch also welcomed the fact that Federal Research Minister Anja Karliczek (CDU) had announced with the presentation of her activation program that all processes in university medicine would be digitized.
Investments in IT infrastructure
“This is also the case urgently needed, ”said the MFT President. "University hospitals are considered to be critical infrastructure with special requirements for data security - but without adequate financial resources." With the medical informatics initiative of the BMBF, the federal government is currently promoting the networking of research and care in university medicine. “However, the initiative does not cover the urgent need in the area of IT infrastructure.”
These infrastructures are also necessary for the third pillar of university medicine: teaching. "During the crisis, we had to improvise at very short notice and devoted great deal of energy to developing and using alternative digital formats in teaching," said Frosch. However, there is lack of hardware, personnel and resources to qualify teaching staff in the field of digital teaching.
Scientific publication practice has also changed: “In just five months, Pubmed listed 20,000 publications of COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2. It has never been easier to publish in the best journals, ”said Frosch. But there is also another side to this: With this dynamic and the high pressure of public expectations, scientific quality standards could fall by the wayside, he warned.
This development is not surprising for the MFT President, but he thinks it is dangerous. Study results that have been published in advance but have not yet been finally analyzed also pose risk. "The expectations of the public to be able to present solutions for the control of the pandemic with drugs, vaccines and epidemiological assessments as quickly as possible, contradict the necessary care in data collection and compliance with scientific quality standards," said Frosch with swipe at some representations in the Press. In the interests of their credibility and the trust of society in medical research, the medical faculties are obliged to ensure that quality standards apply. In addition, they would also have to protect their scientists from “pseudo-experts' addiction to validity”.
But the pandemic also brought about positive developments, for example the implementation of the National Research Network of University Medicine on COVID-19, which brings together all university medical locations and is funded by the Federal Ministry of Research (BMBF) with 150 million euros. Frosch also welcomed the fact that Federal Research Minister Anja Karliczek (CDU) had announced with the presentation of her activation program that all processes in university medicine would be digitized.
Investments in IT infrastructure
“This is also the case urgently needed, ”said the MFT President. "University hospitals are considered to be critical infrastructure with special requirements for data security - but without having adequate financial resources." “However, the initiative does not cover the urgent need in the area of IT infrastructure.”
These infrastructures are also necessary for the third pillar of university medicine: teaching. “During the crisis, we had to improvise at very short notice and devoted lot of energy to developing and using alternative digital formats in teaching,” explained Frosch. However, there is lack of hardware, personnel and resources to qualify teaching staff in the field of digital teaching.
The medical students of the Medical Faculty of the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Tobias Henke and Meret Quante, were basically satisfied with the continuation of teaching during the pandemic at the oMFT. "Digital teaching worked surprisingly well," they said. On the other hand, they are not satisfied with the nationally inconsistent regulations for the second state examination (M2).
Dr. med. Eva Richter-Kuhlmann
6
0
Do you want a website?