Summerschool looks at medical informatics
Konstanz, September 29, 2018. For the first time, the computer science faculties of the HTWG and Reutlingen University of Applied Sciences have organized a German-Russian summer school together with Moscow's Sechenov University. With great success - even before its end a repetition was considered.
What developments in computer science will shape the medicine of the future? Where can it support everyday medical practice? How can diagnoses be made easier? And how do new media actually change the relationship between doctor and patient? These are just a few of the questions the German-Russian Summer School dealt with on the subject of medical informatics. For the first time, the computer science faculties of the HTWG and the Reutlingen University of Applied Sciences organized the event together with the Moscow Sechenov University. Sechenov University is the oldest Russian educational institution for health and care. It has a large medical faculty and offers further life science-oriented courses of study.
Within two weeks, eight female and two male students of the still young "General Medicine" course of study at the Russian university gained insights not only into the fields of application of modern medical informatics, but also direct experience reports from users in the German and Swiss health care system.
While the first week of the Summer School at Reutlingen University focused on the theoretical possibilities of Big Data, Blockchain, Wearables and virtual reality, the second week of the program at the HTWG in Constance focused on application. "It brought me an incredible amount of benefit that we were able to hear the experiences of practitioners in the application," said a Russian student in retrospect. The versatile programme included a guided tour of the Constance Hospital by the head of radiology, Prof. Dr. Markus Juchems, and a lecture by Dr. Sabine Schmidt-Weitmann (photo), who, as a "tele-doctor" with a team of doctors, tested online consultation hours via e-mail at the University Hospital and researched the response of patients to the offer.
Prof. Dr. Ralf Seepold, who co-initiated and organised the Summer School, led the programme in Constance. "Our goal was to show the broad spectrum of possible applications of computer science in digital medicine and to provide an insight into future trends," he said. Prof. Dr. Christian Wache from the HTWG Health Informatics course of studies addressed the compatibility of medical data in a workshop, while PhD student Maksym Gaiduk presented the possibilities of non-invasive sleep research. Two students, who had already worked in the sleep laboratory in Russia themselves, tested the new applications on their own during the summer school. "The exchange of knowledge is a great benefit. Cooperation between universities worldwide will have to become a matter of course in view of the new developments. I am delighted to be able to participate," said one student.
The mixture of lectures, laboratory visits, excursions and practical workshops was so well received that a repetition was already being considered before the end of the Summer School. (aw)
Further information about the program:
https://uc-lab.in.htwg-konstanz.de/grss.html
Link to the article in German: https://www.htwg-konstanz.de/aktuelles/news/summerschool-blickt-auf-medizininformatik/
Caption: Dr. Sabine Schmidt-Weitmann worked at the University Hospital as a "tele-doctor" with a team of doctors, testing online consultation hours by e-mail and researching the response of patients to the offer. She presented her results during the German-Russian Summer School.