EDUCATION. For the first time since the pandemic broke out, an in-person poster exhibition of the medical program’s degree projects was held on Thursday, but there was no mingling around the posters. Instead, the students were summoned to the Conference Centre Wallenberg to present their work in small groups spread out during the day according to a set schedule.
The event continued throughout Thursday to ensure that it could be carried out in a coronavirus-safe manner. The hundreds of posters set up in the foyer summarized student projects in several areas. Several projects provided different perspectives on the pandemic and COVID-19 infection. Other topics the projects focused on included obstetricians’ views on home births, the covariance between mental illness and chronic pain, the unusual diagnosis of Prader-Willi syndrome, and lucid dreams in which one is aware that one is dreaming.
An opportunity for internationalization
The degree project is usually a good opportunity for medical students to gain experience of health and medical care in other countries. Though students, unfortunately, have not been able to travel abroad to collect their own data, several still did degree projects in the field of global health.
“In some cases, the supervisor had already collected data that the student could work with. Data may also have come from major international registers maintained by such bodies as the World Health Organization. Another possibility has been collaborations with researchers who have been on site and have been able to collect the data required for the work,” says Delér Shakely, the course director responsible for the degree projects in global health.
Strong interest in global health
Shakely studied to be a medical doctor in Gothenburg and completed his doctorate in malaria at Karolinska Institutet. For several years now, he has been responsible for the course “Introduction to Global Health” and an active researcher in global public health at the Institute of Medicine. He notes that there is a strong interest in global health among medical students.
“The elective course in global health is much appreciated by the 20 or so students who usually take it every year. The new medical program offers the course in global health for a week, but since it is a broad and complicated subject, we hope to expand it,” says Shakely, who specializes in internal medicine and is currently completing his sub-specialization in gastroenterology at Kungälv Hospital.
Prizes for best posters
During the morning, teachers from the course management for the degree projects walked around and judged the posters. Later in the afternoon, three prizes for the best posters were awarded, funded by the Gothenburg Medical Association (GLS). The Medical Association’s award this time went to Sofia Farhadian, whose degree project dealt with the effect of growth hormone treatment on bone mass and fractures in Turner syndrome in a long-term follow-up of 25 years. Amanda Blomsten received the course managers’ award. She studied the outcome for patients with chronic constipation after treatment with medication or surgery. The global health award went to Amanda Carlsson, whose degree project concerned malnutrition among women and children in Nepal. The winners received SEK 2,000 each and dinner tickets to three of GLS’s Wednesday meetings.
Ann Stokland, who recently became chair of the Gothenburg Medical Association, awarded the prizes during a Zoom seminar.
“Promoting education and continuing professional development is enshrined in the Gothenburg Medical Association’s charter, and this fits well with the purpose of the association,” comments GLS Secretary Kjell Torén.
BY: ELIN LINDSTRÖM
