AK/CoFO: (ex)change medical education

Text: Matias Jacomet | Vice-President for Education

It is Saturday morning at the main train station in Bern. Some people hurry swiftly over the stone tiles to their next point of destination. A few eyes look tiredly at the cups of coffee in front of them, while they wait for the next train to arrive. Others flick through the latest newspaper or focus on the screen of their phone. And in between all this hustle and bustle of an early October weekend there are two people waiting. One of them is wearing a blue collegejacket. “I’m really excited to meet all the delegates!”. The hand of the big clock at the meeting point takes another leap: It is 9:30. It was at this moment, that the eyes of the two people lit up, as they spotted the people they were expecting…

Few minutes later. The delegates of the Ausbildungskommission/Commission de la formation (AK/CoFo) are assembling in their conference room (just steps away from the meeting point) to hold their first meeting of this term. Wellequipped with croissants, fruits and coffee the discussions start: “Will podcasts continue to be available at your university, now that more inperson education takes place again?”. “How are the covidcertificates implemented at your university?”. “How did you welcome this year’s freshies?”. As the delegates begin to gather a general update of what has happened and what is going to happen at their universities, it once again becomes evident how big the differences between the universities can be. But the AK/CoFo is not only exchanging and sharing information about what happened to medical students. It is also about how medical students themselves can make change happen within their medical education. And there are many things that could be improved from a students perspective: Making our exams more transparent. Getting more and better feedback on our performance. Make sure that the input from the students is not only heard, but as well implemented. Increasing the quality of our practical and clinical courses, so that our medical studies prepare us even better for our work as future doctors. Just to name a few.

Ok. But where do we start? And how do we make things happen? One strength of the AK/CoFo is that students from all universities are represented and that information can be exchanged very fast between universities. We decided during our first meeting to make this strength available to all medical students as best as we can: The ongoing project of the national comparative survey, which aims at a statistically founded comparison of student satisfaction between all Swiss universities regarding eight aspects of medical education, has been approved by the delegates and is now going to be distributed to all medical students in the course of this semester.

Also many of the delegates volunteered to work on gathering information, links and other resources all around our medical studies, to share them on the new swimsa website with all medical students. Furthermore, we are currently working on other ideas to continue to support medical students all around Switzerland, getting a step closer to the medical education they want and need. Although this exchange is very helpful to connect and work on a national level on matters concerning all universities, the fastest way to implement these ideas and make change happen is on a local level. For this, we need the help of other engaged and motivated students. That's why we need you!

The morning has passed quickly. The cups of coffee are empty and the plates with breakfast are gone. After saying goodbye to one another the delegates start their journey back to Lausanne, Zurich and even Ticino. In the front of the conference room in Bern a flipchart with a lot of postits on it reminds of the ideas that were brought to life during the last few hours. Ideas the delegates now carry within their bags on their way home. Ideas that might help improve our medical education in the future. Do you have an idea or a problem concerning medical education you would like to share with medical students from all Swiss universities? The next meeting of the AK/CoFo takes place on the 4th of December. Every medical student is welcomed. If you are interested, do not hesitate to send a mail to vpa@swimsa.ch.