ABSTRACT
Introduction: Longitudinal electives ("tracks") were introduced within the Heidelberg Curriculum Medicinale (HeiCuMed) in 2017. Participation in one of the 11 tracks is obligatory. Within the track "Interdisciplinary Oncology" (IO), > 150 participants can choose from > 170 courses each semester. Since students of all terms are allowed, previous knowledge and research experience are heterogeneous. Tus, medical students and participants have initiated a lecture series entitled "Insights in Research" to facilitate the entry of medical students into scientifc research. In addition, a student-led cofee meet-up ("DoktorandenCafe") was set up. Here we report on those student initiatives. Method(s): To allow medical students with a strong interest in oncology to get into contact with basic scientifc research groups at the University Hospital Heidelberg, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the Hopp Childrens' Cancer Center (KiTZ) and the National Cancer for Tumor Diseases (NCT), a seminar entitled "Insights in Research" is organized on a monthly basis by student representatives. Guest lecturers who are first or co-author of a respective paper are invited and their research work is discussed with all participants. To increase exchange between current and future medical doctoral students, the "DoktorandenCafe" was initiated by student representatives. Result(s): Since February 2020, > 70 students enrolled in the IO elective have participated in the seminars "Insights in Research" and "DoktorandenCafe". The seminar "Insights in Research" enables students to gain basic knowledge of scientifc research processes, facilitating the first contact of medical students with cancer research. Moreover, this seminar enables students to discuss scientifc topics in the field of oncology together with other participants of the course and with a researcher that actively participated in the presented research project. Additionally, the newly initiated cofee meet-up enables students who are writing or planning to write their doctoral thesis in the field of oncology to get in touch with each other and to discuss thesis-related issues. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, both seminars were held virtually during the summer term 2020. Conclusion(s): The student-initiated seminars have a high participation rate. This indicates that student-initiated teaching initiatives should be encouraged and implemented into medical education to strengthen interest in basic and translational research.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: The assessment of COVID-19 associated mortality is crucial to evaluate the impact of the pandemic and to assess the effectiveness of measures. Objectives: We aimed to investigate trends in COVID-19 related mortality over time in Switzerland, using data from the COVID-19 Hospitalbased Surveillance (CH-SUR) database. Methods: Considering four different time periods of COVID-19 epidemic, we calculated crude and adjusted mortality rates and performed competing risks survival analyses for all patients and for patients admitted to intensive care (ICU). Results: Overall, 16,967 COVID-19 related hospitalizations and 2,307 deaths of adult patients were recorded. Crude hospital mortality rates were 15.6% in the 1st and 14.4% in the 2nd wave;for ICU patients it was 24% and 31.3%, respectively. The overall adjusted risk of death was lower for hospitalised patients during the 2nd compared to the 1st wave (HR 0.75, 95% CI 0.73 - 0.77). In contrast, patients admitted to ICU as well as patients with invasive ventilation presented a higher risk of death during the 2nd wave (HR 1.62, 95% CI 1.54-1.70 and HR 2.10, 95% CI 1.99-2.20, respectively). Conclusion: Our findings may be explained by various changes in the COVID-19 patient management in Swiss hospitals, e.g. with the use of effective drugs against complications or with different guidelines for ICU admission and invasive ventilation use.