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 MED-NET Newsletter 6
January 2001
In this issue:
 Editorial
MED-NET enters its second phase. On basis of the results of the self-evaluation and the inquiry among the MED-NET members: it was decided at the last meeting of the Taskforce of MED-NET to change co-ordinator. A working group was installed preparing the next application. It consisted of Colette Creusy, Madalena Patricio and Enzo Molina. The group was chaired by Jean-Pierre Wauters and advised by Frank Harris. The result is the preproposal MED-NET2, see article in the Newsletter. The pre-proposal will be incorporated in the ERASMUS Institutional Contract 2001-2002 of the Università degli studi die Parma. Enzo Molina will be the new co-ordinator.
The present contract of MED-NET ends in August 2000. At that time also the co-ordination and management will stop. If the new application is granted, the new contract will start in September 2001. In the interim period the working group will take over secretariat and website. The group is under the direction of Jean-Pierre Wauters.
The results of the self-evaluation and inquiry among the MED-NET members were negative in the sense that management and organisation were not transparent enough, and the administration should be more professional. The taskforce agreed mentioning that MED-NET had started too ambitious, took on too many things, without having the commitment of people enough. However, all respondents agreed on one thing: MED-NET should continue. It has excellent potentials as a network with a good website. It should be a meeting place for all involved in internationalisation of medical education.
The pre-proposal is presented under MED-NET2 and you will see that it is more simply organised than the former MED-NET structure, dealing with less different activities. We would advise you to become member of MED-NET2.
Members Consultation Meeting
Padova, June 2000
In the Members Consultation Meeting at June 10, 2000 in Padova it was reported that financing of the Medische hulpbron project has finished at the end of this year’s summer. It is the EU’s philosophy that its projects after four years of support should either be so successful that they can continue on the basis of self-financing or should be stopped. There is however an opportunity to apply for a follow-up study with new aims and objectives building upon the results and experiences of the former project (see editorial).
Because good management builds upon analysis by evaluation of former performance, the Task Force decided to carry out a self-evaluation. Also the members were asked to fill out a very short questionnaire instantly. The evaluation contained questions concerning Medische hulpbron’s strengths and weaknesses, about what could have been done better, whether Medische hulpbron should continue and, if so, what issues should be advised to undertake the follow-up project. We hereby briefly summarize the results of this questionnaire.
The main strength of Medische hulpbron has been described as being a forum for partners to meet. Without this the danger of partnerships dying is great as also losing contacts with many old and potential new partners. It provides co-ordinators to gather and plan and discuss common activities. Also the participation of Eastern European partners is appreciated. Especially the opportunity of discussing problems within the area of medical education is considered to be of great importance. There is a broad representation of European medical faculties. And Medische hulpbron contributes to a better understanding of different types of teaching methods and organization among European universities. There are good information possibilities.
One of the weaknesses is the lack of organization of the meetings: repeated subjects, poorly organized speakers, too many talks and too little time to get together informally. Also the management seemed too complicated, with too many responsible persons to realize too complicated goals and expectations. There was too little action. There were not enough funds to guarantee the participation of all members at the meetings. There was too much talking instead of doing.
Medische hulpbron could have organized the meetings better: better selection of speakers and topics. A more transparent and accessible administration is necessary. There should have been funds for participation in the meetings and more contact with the members. Medische hulpbron should have pursued more realistic goals and focussed on information exchange, on specific directions of mutual interests. There should be more active interchange of ideas, seminars and mobility of professors as well as students.
About the follow-up project a lot of members had different opinions; assessment was one of them. It is however sure that members expect that the new project would organize and structure conferences with a lot of opportunities to communicate. The project should focus on specific topics like computer en multimedia education, the educational and research market, a directory of centres of medical education to stimulate new projects. The project should take influence on as much medical schools to make them aware on ‘good medical education’.
The end conclusion of the questionnaire is that Medische hulpbron should certainly continue but with more simplified structures but still being a field of discussion of the main problems of teaching medicine and other subjects related. We should keep the possibility of personal interaction between the community of people interested in various topics concerning medical education, e.g. student exchange activities.
The conclusion of this questionnaire is clear: Medische hulpbron should continue, but the current organization should be reformed and simplified. A new proposal will be submitted to the EC and, if accepted, it will probably start September 2001. The new project will be co-ordinated by the University of Parma (Enzo Molina).
Transition of MED-NET to MED-NET2
At the 4th MED-NET Conference in Padua in June this year an inquiry was held investigating the strong and weak points of MED-NET. Strong points of MED-NET are the possibilities of networking in personal contacts at the conferences and at the website. However, items treated at the conferences did not meet the direct interest of most of the participants. It made participants felt that the effectiveness was low and this was demonstrated in decreasing of numbers of participants, particularly at the last two conferences. The necessary fees for these two will have will also have played a role in this process.
The structure and organisation was felt weak, dealing with too many different subjects leading to identity problems. There appeared to be need for a more transparent simple organisation with clear objectives dealing with less diverse activities. The respondents showed a high personal involvement in MED-NET and all were in favour of continuation of the network.
The taskforce discussed the outcomes of the inquiry and decided that after the first period of MED-NET new objectives had to be formulated by a group of members not involved in the present co-ordination and management. Colette Creusy (Lille), Madalena Patricio (Lisbon) and Enzo Molina (Parma) were chosen in this group. Jean-Pierre Wauters (Lausanne) was willing to chair the group and Frank Harris (Leicester) was disposed to advise. The group was asked to prepare a pe-proposal for a new application for 2001-2002 in the SOCRATES-ERASMUS programme. After having consulted the taskforce the group can now present the pre-proposal MED-NET2.
MED-NET2
Introduction
Until now teaching in medicine was given almost exclusively by a traditional ex cathedra approach between one teacher and his students. With the thematic network we want to bring Medical Education from highly isolated and diversified processes to an interactive, multicultural, multidisciplinary and integrated approach.
The present project is based on the experience in networking acquired through the work developed within the MED-NET project. This previously existing thematic network ended in August 2000. The new proposal will also build on former involvement in SOCRATES-ERASMUS and ECTS programmes of the EU.
Aims
The primary aim of MED-NET 2 is quality enhancement of medical education through:
- improvement of existing contacts among the European Faculties of Medicine, offering the opportunity to discuss and work together and learn from one another;
- exchanging good practice in Medical Education;
- increasing student and staff mobility to widen experience and increase mutual confidence;
- improving teaching quality in terms of approaches, tools, contents and curriculum organisation;
- co-operating with European Medical and Professional Associations: AMSE, AMEE, IFMSA, EMSA, EMA, etc. to provide a better link between Medical Education, Societal and health care demands;
- Promote information dissemination.
Objectives
The following objectives are foreseen:
- establish and inspire inter-faculty networking across Europe through the Internet and personal contacts ;
- provide links between European Medical Faculties and Professional Associations within an integrated network ;
- increase mutual knowledge on different educational systems in the delivery of Medical Education;
- identify and disseminate common objectives in Medical Education;
- develop knowledge on the diversity in health needs and health care systems across Europe ;
- develop the concept of life-long learning (LLL) at all levels of Medical Education;
- widen interaction with Medical Faculties of Central and Eastern Europe, presently outside the EU;
- provide elements of information and references to other practices (i.e. distance learning), other realities (i.e. the challenges raised by a multilingual Europe), other experiences (i.e. future Cupertino with the USA and Canada), the background for analyses, confrontations and comparisons.
Target Groups
- Medical Faculties, in particular those persons involved in Medical Education and Quality Assurance in Medical Education: teaching staff, students, curriculum development specialists and officers involved in student and staff mobility;
- Students and Professional Associations involved in Medical Education;
- Persons interested in undertaking medical or health related studies;
- Persons interested in Medical Education (including lay persons and political authorities).
Principal Activities
Regional Workshops
Hosted on request by a Medical Faculty, a workshop will consist of a two-day meeting structured as a platform for exchange of experience in Medical Education. The participants will include academic staff and students of the host Faculty and one representative from four other Faculties of different countries. In addition the host Faculty shall invite, as active participants, representatives from other medical Faculties within the same Region. A Region will be determined on the basis of cultural and/or linguistic identities within -or preferably superposing- different countries.
Host Faculties will be selected primarily among Central and Eastern Europe countries in order to foster increased networking at the pan European level.
On advice of the Council members, the Executive Committee will designate the person organising and chairing the meeting. The chairman decides the choice of the participating Faculties by agreement with the host Faculty.
Based on preparatory documents (describing primarily the type of curriculum, teaching organisation, education offer, validation procedures, pedagogical contents and practices, development of new tools, students assessment, ECTS implementation, international experience, quality assessment and quality management enhancement, human resources and research themes, etc), the meeting will be devoted to analysis of strengths and weaknesses, new educational matters and foreseen improvements at the Faculty level.
The full-report of the meeting will be sent by the chairman to the Executive Committee, presented and discussed at the annual meeting and published on the Web Site.
A follow up report on any changes undertaken at Regional Faculties will be initiated 6 months after the workshop.
Annual meeting
A one and a half-day meeting in May hosted by a partner Faculty at the intent of all target groups.
Organised by the Executive Committee after consultation of the Council, the meeting will be devoted to:
- presentation and discussion of workshops reports ;
- protected time for furthering personal contacts and networking ;
- important topics presented by invited speakers and related to issues raised during workshops and/or new educational directions such as multidisciplinary teaching (including other health professions), clinical education (how, where, when, whom), community teaching, new and emerging topics to teach (ethics, socio-economics, bio-technology, humanisation of Medicine, diversity in health needs and health strategies, etc.).
A full report of the Annual meeting will be prepared by the host Faculty and published on the Web Site by the Executive Committee.
Web-site and data-bank
The existing MED-NET Web Site (med-net.nl) and data bank will be subsumed and developed further. The new data bank will allow accessing to the largest possible amount of information on Medical Education in Europe through a self-oriented research. It will cover the following issues:
- European Medical Faculties.... links, contact person
- European students and Professional Associations (link, contact person, area of interest
- members (contact, function, subject, area of specialisation....
- council and executive committee members (contact, function, subject, area of specialisation...)
- links with existing networks (link, contact person, area of interest)
- news and events on Medical Education (conferences, publication list of recent scientific journals)
- new pedagogic innovations (articles and journals)
- ECTS guidelines
- European Commission papers on Education and health
- workshops reports,
- annual meeting report
- news and events of the thematic network
Virtual secretariat
As an electronic tool the virtual secretariat will allow - through a dedicated e-mail address on the Web-Site - to interact with members of the Executive Committee for personalised information and suggestions. Members will be strongly advised to use this channel as an interactive instrument (for ex. chat room and Notice Board) and questions of interest to others will be published on the Web-Site. By this way the virtual secretariat will allow the network to obtain potential feedback from the target groups.
ECTS implementation
The network will provide expertise for its implementation and evaluation during the workshops and on request.
Expected results and products
As result we expect an improvement in the quality of Medical Education and quality management enhancement in Europe through
- increased mutual knowledge on different educational and health systems
- increased expertise in the field of Medical Education
- increased networking and contacts between medical Faculties
- increased contacts with students and professional associations
- improvement of student and staff mobility
- increased networking with Central and Eastern Europe
- increased and continuing collaboration between Faculties participating at the Regional Workshops
The following products will be obtained:
- workshops reports with on-line editing
- follow-up reports on any changes undertaken at each university following workshops
- annual meeting reports
- a virtual resource centre, via a Web-site design and set-up
- data bank on medical faculties, their objectives, curricula and contact points
- a virtual secretariat
- documents to prepare, support and evaluate the workshops
- documents to implement and evaluate the ECTS
- collection of documents on EU Medical Education and health policies.
Provisional composition of Executive Committee
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Prof. Enzo Molina (co-ordinator) Università di Parma, I (co-ordinating Institution)
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Prof. Colette Creusy Université Catholique de Lille, F
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Dr. Madalena Patricio Universidade de Lisboa, P
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Prof. Jean-Pierre Wauters Université de Lausanne, CH
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Prof. Frank Harris consultant. UK
The taskforce of MED-NET asks you have confidence in the new network MED-NET2 and support the pre-proposal by sending an endorsement letter, signed by your dean to:
Prof. Enzo Molina
Università degli Studi di Parma
Istituto di Farmacologia
Via Volturno, 39
I-43100 PARMA
ITALIA
Phone +39 0521 903866
Fax +39 0521 903865
E-Mail [email protected]
Comenius University Medical School, Bratislava
The history of higher education in Bratislava dates way back to the 15th century. In 1467, King Matthius Corvinus following the order of his era and aiming to increase the splendor of his empire signed the founding chapter of the first University, baptized as Academia Istropolitana. For the following several centuries, Bratislava remained an important and flourishing multiethnic and multicultural administrative and financial center of the entire Carpathian Valley. The development of the University was interrupted several times by history, nevertheless the idea of higher education has shown remarkable persistence having revived from time to time, now is striving for integration in its full structure. Today's University, which from 1919 carries the name of the famous pedagogue and philosopher, Jan Amos Comenius (Komensky) "the teacher of nations", is rooted in this progressive spiritual heritage.
Jan Amos Comenius - Churchman and educational reformer born in Moravia.
Relating education to everyday life, he advocated systematizing all knowledge, teaching in the vernacular rather than Latin, and establishing a universal system of education with opportunities for women. He held that science exalted divine majesty rather than threatened it. One of his major works, Didactica Magna (1628–1632), expounds these principles. He visited England and Sweden, and in 1650 went to Hungary, where he composed his Orbis sensualium pictus (1658, The Visible World in Pictures), the first picture book for children. He then settled in Amsterdam.
During the last eight decades, thousands of physicians, lawyers and students of humanities graduated from the University. Besides professional knowledge, they received from alma mater moral support and love for their professions. At the same time, professors of the University, particularly of the Medical School became determinants of the intellectual life in the region by founding periodicals, associations they contributed to the spreading of intellectual values.
Comenius University Medical School, the largest and the oldest institution of the Comenius University, belongs to the World Health Organization listed medical schools. It has two branches - General Medicine and Dental Medicine – comprising of 17 preclinical, 35 clinical departments, and 14 additional clinical and research laboratories. Our teaching and research staff consists of 60 full professors, 95 associate professors, 350 assistant professors and 43 senior scientific advisers and senior research associates. The Central Medical Library contains 138,000 books and periodicals, and has a direct connection to the European medical databanks. The University Library offers more than 1,250,000 volumes and periodicals to meet the students' requirements.
The Medical School seeks to educate graduate students by promoting their intellectual development and gradual accumulation of competence in the fine art of medicine. Although the primary goal of the Medical School is to educate medical students, an equally important function is scientific research, which is aimed at new discoveries. Our research community has established close ties with other European scientific centers. Many members of the Medical School took their education at European and American Universities. Most of our leading scientists and teachers have been working as Research or Clinical Fellows at leading health care centers; they regularly attend international congresses and symposia, bringing our research into the international arena. The Medical School welcomes and regularly receives Guest-Lecturers and Research Fellows.
The clinical departments maintain high standards with sophisticated equipment and highly competent medical staff warranting superior therapy and training. Areas of study and major research efforts include cardiovascular system, neurobiology, gastroenterology, endocrinology, immunology, perinatal and pediatric diseases, nuclear medicine and others.
We are proud, that our graduates are well prepared for postgraduate and residency training, not only because of the excellence of the Medical School's pre-clinical program, but also because of the extensive hands-on training in medicine and surgery provided by our staff.
International Medical Students
The Medical School in Bratislava admits approximately 300 students in the Slovak freshman year into its General Medicine and Dental Medicine Programs. In addition to this, places are reserved for international students. International applicants to the Medical School may choose between two equal alternatives - they may study either in the Slovak language with other Slovak students or they may join the English Language Program (competence in English language, oral and written, is part of the entry requirement).
Except for the fact that instructions, practical sessions, lectures and examinations are conducted in English, the curriculum of the six-year English Language Program is completely identical to the coursework pursued by Slovak medical students. Learning the Slovak language is also compulsory for the first three years of the program. Proficiency in Slovak is required for communicating with patients and others in the wards, such as nurses, who may speak only Slovak.
This final year includes four state exams and is terminated by issuing the degree MUDr, that is, Medicinae Universae Doctor (equivalent to M.D. degree), at a graduation ceremony. Possession of this degree enables the holder to practice medicine in the Slovak Republic without restriction. This degree also enables the holder to practice medicine in other countries.
Those who want to pursue, after completing their Doctor of Medicine Program, postgraduate training at the Medical School in Bratislava, there is a choice between our Ph.D. Training Programs and the Residency Training Programs.
Some Words About Bratislava
- Bratislava is an exciting city with deep historical and cultural roots. Being situated on the Southwest of Slovakia, if lies on the left bank of the Danube River near the point where the borders of Slovakia, Austria, and Hungary meet. The area was settled as early as from the fifth millennium BC. In the fourth century BC a well-organized Celtic settlement with highly developed craft production arose here. The Roman conquest of the Danube Valley (Pannonia) by Druse and Tiberius signaled the end of Celtic culture and beginning of Romanization. In the course of the 10th and 11th centuries, the area became part of the rising Hungarian Kingdom spreading over the Carpathian Valley.
- Available historical sources mentioned Bratislava for the first time in 907 on its old Latin name, Presalauspurch. Town privileges were received from King Andrew III. As early as in 1291, further privileges were granted in the 14th and 15th centuries, including the right to strike its own coins. The Academia Istropolitana, the first University in Slovakia and one of the first Universities in Central-Europe was founded here in 1456. After Louis II. of Hungary was defeated by the Ottomans in 1526, Bratislava was promoted to the second capital of the Habsburg empire, the capital of the Hungarian Kingdom, the coronation town of nineteen of its kings and queens and the site of its Parliament until the year 1848. In 1805, after the Battle of Austerlitz, the Peace of Pressburg between Austria and Napoleon’s France was signed in the Bishop’s Palace. From the 1830s and 1840s, Bratislava witnessed the unfolding of the Slovak national revival movement.
- In 1919, the city became one of the two main administrative and business centers of the newly formed Czechoslovakia. Since January 1st, 1993 it has been the capital of the newly formed Slovak Republic and the seat of the country’s central institutions.
Tempus Structural Joint European Project
11460-96
EUROSKILLS in Medical Education
In 1996 a consortium of medical faculties took the initiative to put forward a TEMPUS JEP proposal to investigate whether or not it is possible to reach consensus on common standards of the required clinical skills of medical graduates at a European level. At a national level it had already been proved possible to reach such a consensus as documented in the ‘Blueprint 94’, a joint document of the medical schools of the Netherlands. Since then a substantial improvement has been reached in clinical skills training. The European Training Foundation decided to support this project called ‘EUROSKILLS in Medical Education’.
In order to achieve the goal of this project a questionnaire was sent to the European medical schools. The questionnaire included questions regarding General Objectives e.g. Complaint Recognition and Description, History Taking, Physical Examination, Management, Prevention etc. For following disciplines a Skills List was composed: internal medicine, neurology, psychiatry, paediatrics, surgery, gynaecology/obstetrics, dermatology, otorhinolaryngology (ENT), ophtalmology, general practice and social medicine. The list included skills typical to the discipline, based on the ‘Blueprint ‘94’. Topics concerning a.o. physical examination, therapeutical skills, therapy, tests were presented in the questionnaire.
The results of this project reflect the opinion of the participants on which skills should be mastered at the time of graduation. At a national level it is possible to reach a consensus on standards regarding skills. And the availability of clear (national or international) standards will improve the quality of medical education.
For any additional information you could contact the project co-ordinator: Peter Szekeres M.D., Pécs Medical University, Project Office, H-7623 Pécs, Ifjuság u. 13., Hungary. (E-mail: )
4th MED-NET Conference
Padova, June 2000
The 4th MED-NET Conference took place in June 2000 in Padova, Italy. For a selection of the posters and presentations, please see our conference section, or click here.
Announcements & Enquiries
Here is a selection of announcements and enquiries from the Bulletin Board which can be found in the MED-NET Homepage. Feel free to reply to these announcements or to add your own.
hemodialysis
From: next Dr.
E-mail: [email protected]
Message
i'm a medical student in last year.i have a research about contamination of hemodialysis water.we do it with LAL tests and....if you interested or want to change information about this please write me.
international medical students
From: behzad
E-mail: [email protected]
Message
i'm a medical student from iran.i'm very interested to know about the universities of other countries and introduce my university:orumia medical university.please write me to this address:[email protected]
side effects recorded after a 2nd allogenic peripheral blood stem cell mobilization with GCSF
From: Federico Papineschi
E-mail:
Message
Side effects after (after 3 months) apheresis CD34 cells mobilization in healthy donor.
Today's teacher as a professional
From: curious
E-mail: [email protected]
Message
"The professional person is cast in the role of practical artist, that is, one who departs from formulae and recipes, who sizes up complicated situations and makes educated judgements/decisions based on imperfect information" Explain this statement for me. To what extent and in what way is it applicable to teaching? What are its implications for teacher education?
Medical Students Group
From: Michiel
E-mail:
Message
Dear all, please come to http://come.to/trauma to interact with other medical students from all over the world (ICQ and CHAT).
International exchange of medical students
From: Doutsje Idzenga
E-mail:
Message
I am a Dutch medical student who wants to participate in an exchange program to see more of the world and of international medicine. If anyone can help me with this, please contact me by e-mail.
disection
From: p. ainsley
Message
i am an alternative health practitioner looking to attend a disection. my priciple science is osteopathy but i want to LEARN my anatomy completely. anyone know where i can go to get this from?
Join Us in Promoting Global Cardiovascular Health
From: Arlene Silva
E-mail: [email protected]
Message
Dear Madam or Sir,
Regarding the silent epidemic: - Cardiovascular diseases account for one-third of deaths globally, two-thirds of which arise in the developing world (from the World Health Organization). - Cardiovascular diseases are expected to accelerate in the developing world due to rising life expectancies, economic transitions, lifestyle changes and tobacco use (from the World Health Organization).
We are writing to introduce ProCOR, our free web-based information site and moderated email discussion group created in response to this impending crisis. ProCOR aims to facilitate the global exchange of information and knowledge pertaining to cardiovascular disease, and to link health professionals dedicated to this fight throughout the world.
ProCOR is guided by an Advisory Committee comprised of experts from internationally recognized institutions. Included, as a founder of the service, is Dr. Bernard Lown, a distinguished Harvard cardiologist and co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985.
Please join us in facing the challenge posed by cardiovascular diseases. We invite you to:
- Visit us (at http://www.procor.org) and JOIN ProCOR NOW (subscribe at http://www.procor.org/sub.htm). ProCOR is completely FREE. - Become part of a global network of health professionals. - Visit SATELLIFE, our nonprofit organization, at http://www.satellife.org You will have access to information resources such as electronic publications, discussion groups on a variety of topics, and Get Web, a tool which retrieves text from World Wide Web pages using e-mail messages. - Forward this message to anyone who might benefit from our services. - Contact us with feedback or to request further information.
We look forward to fighting this stealthy killer together.
Sincerely,
Abha Agrawal, M.D. Editor,ProCOR Tel: 203-764-6701 Fax:203-764-6717 E-mail: [email protected] Arlene E. Silva Research Assistant, ProCOR Tel: 617-926-9400 Fax: 617-926-1212 E-mail:
Scolarship
From: romania
E-mail:
Message
i want to find an asociation af european medical students and a why to win a scolarsip!thanks
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