Hey, do you know PROFILES?

Text: Florence Odermatt | University of Lucerne Robin Walter | University of Bern Edit: Matias Jacomet | Vice-President for Education

Extremely confused

Did you ever get greeted by your dean with the comment “So of course, everybody of you knows of PROFILES by now” and pretty much everyone was like “Uuhm, no?”. Well, while he is right that everybody should have heard at least once of PROFILES, knowing about it is something quite different.

PROFILES extremely short

The easiest way to describe PROFILES is that this acronym is the actual name of a framework introduced in 2017 upon which our medical education should be built on it defines the necessary content medical students have to learn until the Federal Licensing Exam so that they may practice it at the first day of their residency. But: at the same time PROFILES is much more! Hence, we created flyers in English, German and French with the aim to show medical students about the new goals of their education. We tried to explain PROFILES as simple as possible so that each and every student knows its structure and its main targets. We can affirm that the document is in line with the plans of the universities since the document has been checked with responsible experts from each university. But why bother anyway?

Medical education during extreme times

The reason is relatively simple: The medical education of today greatly affects the health system of tomorrow. The better the education, the better the doctors. As education has recently been turned upside down on all levels across the world, medical education has also been affected. The daily business changed completely: No more front lectures but a sudden change to podcasts, no more direct interactions with professors and complete omission of the often already scarce contact with patients. While universities are changing their ways of teaching, it is even more important to keep a good eye on the quality of our education. But to advocate for something, one must be informed. In our case, we must know the content of our curriculum, learning objectives and teaching methods – and we will not get around knowing exactly what PROFILES is.

Find the PROFILES guide in English, French and German by using these QR-codes:

English French German