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Official newsletter of EMSA.
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One of my fun tasks is creat-
ing the Euromeds, like the
one you are reading now!
For this edition we tried to
collect as much articles as
possible. Without the articles
there wouldn‘t be any Eu-
romeds! Keep that in mind
when you‘re writing YOUR
article for the next Euromeds!
I would like to thank Tugce
for all her help with creating
this Euromeds. Have fun
reading!
Jeetindra
Balak
Secretary
General
2009/10
Dear EMSA friends
I would like to welcome you
5ht edition of our official
newsletter. This edition is very
special because it is created
by two editors. I would like to
introduce you our new secre-
tary general: Jeetindra Balak!
It has been a great pleasure
working with him and I al-
ready see that he will do a
great job! :)
Well, it was a great pleasure
for me to publish EMSA‘s offi-
cial newsletter for the term of
2008/2009 and I hope you
all enjoyed reading it. Thank
you again to all who sent arti-
cles and also to all who read
them.
Now I would like to hand this
space over to Jeetindra and I
hope you all have a very nice
year.
Tugce
Kalayci
Secretary
General
2008/09
Dear all,
First of all, please allow me to
introduce myself. My name is
Jeetindra Balak, 20 years old
and from Leiden (a small city
in the Netherlands). This year
I‘m the new EMSA Secretary
General.
E D I T O R I A L
0 8 / 0 9 F I F T H E D I T I O N
E U R O M E D S
I N T H I S
E D I T I O N
I N T R O D U C T İ O N
E E B
2
S T A T E O F
A F F A İ R S
3
A N İ A D O B E K 4
N A O M İ
B E G E M A N N
4
D O N ’ T G E T
Y O U R
G R A D İ A T İ O N
S P O L E D
5
B R E A K İ N G T H E
S İ L E N C E ,
A T H E N S
6
7
European Medical Students’ Association
OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER
M E D İ C A L
İ N F O R M A T İ C S 7
S P A R K O F
H U M A N İ T Y 9
M İ E 2 0 0 9 9
W H S S 1 1
A N O U N C E M E N T S
Call for 2010 NCM host
The National Coordinators and
Enthusiasts Meeting is an anual
EMSA event where all NCs, LCs,
externals and EMSA enthusiastics
gather for workshops, lectures,
discussion etc.
We are still looking for a FMO who
wants to organize this big EMSA
event! It should take place in April/
June 2010. The venue should be
capable of hosting 50-80 people.
If your interested or want more
information, please contact me
Call for EMSA Working Group
Do you want to be more active for
EMSA on international level? If so
our new Working Group might just
the thing for you!
As part of the EMSA working group
you will brainstorm and share ideas
with other WG members. Other than
that you will also be actively supporting
and working on EMSA projects. WG
members will very often be project
managers as well s coordinators and
will work closely with the EEB on all
strategic interests of EMSA.
Do you think a position in the EMSA
Working Group is something for you,
contact the EEB for more information!
Mostly what we are and partially
what we might be…
Dear fellow Emsai,
It has been a while since the GA. You
had a chance to read out formal in-
troduction on our mailing list… But in
the spirit of holidays, I believe it is
time for a more informal one. J
They say that the donkey goes first,
so we‘ll start of with the President…
The Sage of EMSA, Tin F. B.
Knežević was born and raised in
Zagreb, Croatia. He is very happy not
to be the oldest member of the EEB,
but he is close!
The Right Hand of the President,
a.k.a. the VP, is Anna B. S. Dobek of
Poland. Although, it is very difficult to
find her at here home address as
she mostly spends her time shop-
ping in Milan. She is the one making
all decisions, really. The President is
but a Marionette.
The Scribbler of the Team and the
Royal Archivist comes from The
Netherlands. Or so he claims… He
goes by the name of Jeetindra R. A.
Balak and likes to have fun and the
number 7. If you ever hear the word
―party‖ at an EMSA event, you can
be sure to find the Secretary General
there.
It is said that the money
makes the world go
round… And to make sure
we have it… The Treasur-
er, the Keeper of the Roy-
al Gold… The Capitalist…
Tim W. Rattay comes
from Germany! Although
rumors tell us that he
plans to elope to the Unites States
of America! Goes with the function, I
guess…
The Woman in charge of Education,
the Medical Education Director…
Well… Directress comes from the
fare away land of Portugal! Raquel
Correia is a well known sea fearer
and travels often. Some say that
she plans to travel to the other side
of the globe in a winged ship!
Weather it is for educational pur-
poses or leisure is still to be unrav-
eled…
The Mage, the Alchemist and the
Medical Science Director is none
other than Mistress Kavita Ag-
garwal! She is well known in the
world of the arcane and draws routs
from the fare away land of India.
The Commonwealth remained her
habitat, but she decided to place
her residence closer the Queen. She
now resides in London.
A Disciple of Hippocrates, the Mad-
ame of Kindness and the Medical
Ethics Director sets her anchor in
the ports of The Netherlands. She
goes by the name of Mickuela Las
van Bennekom and can often be
found in the Court of Right and
Wrong heroically defending… The
left.
The one that makes sure all pieces fir
the puzzle is the European Integration
Director. This fine young woman goes
by the name of Naomi M. H. Begemann
and her hobby is travel. Hence, one
would need a location device to track
this Dutch down! Very often, however,
she can be found at EESTEC events!
The SO-LO player in this team is never
alone, comes from Germany and goes
by the name of Verena M. Thiel. She
recently returned from ―The Land Down
Under‖, but has not, for some strange
reason, acquired the Aussie accent.
Her book on ―How to negotiate with
kangaroos‖ is yet to be translated to
English.
The emo part of the EEB, Luis Macha-
do, our EMO-LO also comes from the
land of old sea wolfs, colonizers and
ship builders. Portugal. He is known for
his diplomatic skills so be careful how
you interpret his answers! When a dip-
lomat says ―yes‖, he means ―maybe‖;
when he says ―maybe‖, he means ―no‖;
if he says ―no‖, he‘s no diplomat!
The woman that taught Horton how to
speak to a Who, the WHO-LO is a Ger-
man lass doubt Constanze Born. How-
ever, it has been confirmed by Horton
that she recently fled Germany and
now resided in Mexico. Weather this
was an escape from authorities of from
Grinch is yet to be established…
The only PROfessional in the
team, the PROactive young Paul-
Henry Mackeprang of Deutsch-
land and the Public Relations Of-
ficer of EMSA is a man intrigued
by waves and footsteps. This ob-
session probably emerged long
time ago, in a far off land, at a
A S O M E W H A T F O R M A L İ N T R O D U C T İ O N O F T H E E E B
Page 2 E U R O M E D S
sand beach. Or in Rostock. Whichev-
er seems more PRObable.
And last, but not least! Alexander
Adda of Ukraine! This strong male
Slav has been appointed to run EM-
SA‘s Teddy Affairs with a firm hand!
―A hospital for every teddy!‖ is his
motto. And curiously enough, along
with the President, he is the only
EEB member not living in the EU.
How this info is related to his func-
tion, I have no idea…
And there you have it! EEB in a nut-
shell!
Which of the information provided
is false and which true, I will leave
for the reader to decide.
Let me just add before closing this
session that last year we had 4 di-
rectors (Ahmet, Elshad, Paul-Henry
and Tin). This year we have decided
to mind the aesthetics and there-
fore have 4 Directress. We hope to
be more appealing and win a few
beauty awards.
Sincerely and with kind regards,
Tin F. B. Knežević,
The President
Page 3 E U R O M E D S
S T A T E O F A F F A İ R S
On a bridge between 2009 and
2010
Dear Emsai, dear friends,
2009 is almost done. And what a
year it was!
In the period after the Heidelberg GA
the EEB has been quite busy. First
and foremost getting up to speed
and finishing the handover, then
finding candidates for the few empty
positions remaining (and, of course,
for our 2010 events) and finally re-
viewing 2009, creating a budget for
2010 and applying for the new
Youth in Action Grant.
We have also been successful in
finishing the EMS Congress outcome
paper, creating the EMSA Work
Group, continuing working on the
ongoing pillar projects, brainstorm-
ing new ones and much more!
Not everything went as planned…
We still have to find a candidate to
organize the NCM (Know one?
Please let us know!), the creation of
the Taskforce is a bit behind the
schedule and we were unable to
send the GA minutes (as they were
lost after the GA).
Nevertheless, I believe that the past
few months have been successful
indeed!
2010 is just behind the corner… The
enthusiasm is high and the plans
are many! I will not disclose all the
details; you‘ll get plenty opportuni-
ties to read about as well as join our
projects!
But it would be good to mention that
we will indeed be working on the
EMSA Training System. One that will,
in fact, have two sides. The classical
one, with project management, FR
and similar trainings, and the unor-
thodox one, with a slightly new way
of addressing the issue and different
subjects more closely related to edu-
cational subjects, like the limbic
system, prefrontal cortex, compe-
tences, intelligence and all that jazz.
Interested? Join us at one of our
training sessions!
Furthermore, we will be working
more closely with our externals and
the EMSA Work Group will become a
very important part of this. So if you
are interested to work on the afore-
mentioned training system, EMSA
publications, policy making, EMSA
C.S.I. (public health research, devel-
opment and policy making), eBios
(bioengineering, e-health, telemedi-
cine) or any other project, feel free to
join!
And with this I close ―the State‖.
I wish you all an eventful and a pros-
perous 2010!
Sincerely and europeanly yours,
Tin Knežević,
President
Dear EMSA members!
I am very glad to have this possibility
to introduce myself, especially to the
ones who were not able to attend
the GA in Heidelberg. My name is
Anna Dobek and I am a third-year
medical student at the Medical Uni-
versity of Warsaw. I originally come
from Gdansk in northern
Poland, while currently I
am on an ERASMUS
exchange in Milano.
Although, I have been in
EMSA just for one year
now, I was elected to be
the National Coordinator
of Poland 2008/2009.
During this year I was
responsible for the facul-
ty ―clinical cases‖ and I
took part in the TBH.
Recently, in September, on the GA in
Heidelberg, I was elected to be the
Vice President of EMSA Europe
2009/10.
I have many passions apart from
medicine, especially travelling and
unconventional sports. My most fa-
vourite are horse-riding and climb-
ing, but I love orientation marches,
running with huskies and arching.
During high school, I also worked
voluntarily – I organised a ball for
handicapped children and was an
English tutor of disabled kids. Final-
ly, during vacation I have been
working as a camp tutor, which has
been a lot of fun and adventure!
Although, my beloved activities be-
came more limited when I started
medicine, I continue them when
only I have time.
People claim that I am very open-
minded and keen on meeting new
people. They find me communica-
tive, outgoing and responsible. Per-
sonally, I am interested in different cul-
tures – I love travelling and enjoy learn-
ing foreign languages. Therefore, I have
no problems with teamwork and I am
full of energy, which I hope will help the
EEB to be a great EEB :)
That‘s all for now! Although this kind of
description is never enough, I hope I
gave you at least a
glimpse of myself! If you
want to get to know me
better, do not hesitate to
come to an EMSA meet-
ing or invite me to your
National Assemblies, I‘m
always willing to come!
Europeanly yours,
Anna Dobek
EMSA National Coordina-
tor Poland 2008/2009
EMSA Europe V ice Pres ident
2009/2010
ul. Smugowa 2a 80-299
Gdansk, 80-299
Poland
Email: [email protected]
Phone1: +39 320 641 158 7
Phone2: +48 692 076 230
A N I A D O B E K
V I C E P R E S I D E N T 2 0 0 9 / 2 0 1 0
Page 4 E U R O M E D S
N A O M I B E G E M A N N
E U R O P E A N I N T E G R A T I O N D I R E C T O R 2 0 0 9 / 2 0 1 0
Last week I was
still in Bosnia, in
two weeks I will
be somewhere
else in Germany
and within a
month I will be
d i s c o v e r i n g
Coimbra, Portu-
gal.
Integrating in Eu-
rope is something
I do not seem to
be having prob-
lems with as you
can see.
After this travel-
ling, directing oth-
er people to inte-
grate among Eu-
rope will be my main task, as I got
elected to fulfill the position as Euro-
pean Integration Director for
2009/2010.
After an amazing NCM, Leadership
Summer School, training for trainers,
Medical Informatics European con-
gress and the EMSA-GA in Heidelberg,
I can say that I am more than ready to
use all the experience and knowledge
I achieved within EMSA on European
level.
You will probably hear (or read) more
than enough from me over the next
year, considering different EMSA top-
ics. But I would like to let you know a
bit about me as a person too, so let
me introduce myself.
Me
Almost 22 years ago, a little girl was
born in Haarlem, the Netherlands,
and her mother decided to call her
Naomi. From that moment onwards,
she kept on going and eventually de-
veloped into the girl that is writing this
letter, a true Naomi; Friendly, warm,
social. A person, who enjoys helping
others, likes to think things thoroughly
through, looks at things with a critical
view and always wants something
more. And preferably, done while trav-
elling; me.
I managed to combine almost all of
those qualities, when I went on a gap-
year to New Zealand and afterwards
started studying Medicine in Rotter-
dam, the Netherlands in 2007. I still
enjoy Medicine very much and am in
the third year now.
When I am not study-
ing, I like to play the
harp, play a game of
tennis, hang out with
my friends and of
course work a little bit
in the Hospital. And in
between I am always
reading books and
trying to learn and do
more.
The one thing I
missed, though, was
the travelling. When I found out
there was such a thing as the Twin-
ning Project of EMSA, this need was
filled as well. And before I knew it, I
was president of the next Twinning
Project and on my way to the NCM
in Bulgaria in April this year.
Start of my International career
During the NCM I became even
more enthusiastic about EMSA. And
when the current EB noticed this,
they told me about the possibility of
playing a bigger role, on European
level in the EB. This could not leave
my thoughts and right now I am
already a part of the Work Group
and Assistant of European Integra-
tion.
To have the oppor-
tunity to develop
even further, to be-
come the new EID,
is a great thing! I
cannot express how
much I am looking
forward to the up-
coming year with all
the activities, meet-
ings, ideas that will
be developed, peo-
ple I will be working with, etc.
I hope to be able to meet you in per-
son some day, but otherwise I will
make sure you will not forget about
me over the next year :)
With best EMSA-regards,
Naomi Begemann,
Your motivated and enthusiastic Eu-
ropean Integration Director for
2009/2010
Page 5 E U R O M E D S
D O N ' T G E T Y O U R G R A D U A T I O N B E S P O I L T !
Imagine the day of your graduation:
—YOU wearing a fancy dress or black
tie like back in the good old days of
the EMSA General Assembly in Heidel-
berg, emotionally overwhelmed, lis-
tening to the speech of your dean but
with your thoughts spinning: five, six
or even more years at med school will
have passed; you will have gone
through a few dozen exams, drunk
some hectoliters of coffee, spent a
myriad of sleepless nights learning
and a couple of ecstatic parties danc-
ing; being an EMSA-fanatic you will
have attended the one or the other
international meeting, made friends
from all over the continent, drunk
shots from every European village,
spent hours brainstorming, discuss-
ing, writing motion forms, raising your
voting card, trying to improve the edu-
cation of medical students or the
health and healthcare system of Eu-
rope;
—YOU at a turning point of your life –
shortly before working as a physician,
before your great dream finally comes
true; however, maybe worrying about
the many sleepless hours yet to come
during your night shifts or the mo-
ments of helplessness when finding
your way through the daily hospital
routine, being responsible for your
patients, coping with emergencies
and not quite performing like Doc
McDreamy.
Don‘t let this unique day be spoilt by
those thoughts, but change your fu-
ture situation today! Help pushing
forward repsectively setting up joined
projects of EMSA and PWG, the Per-
manent Working Group of European
Junior Doctors! During the EMSA GA
the EEB and the IFMSA representa-
tives thought with Dr. Bernardo Bollen
Pinto, president of PWG, about the
following ventures:
1. Bologna Process 3rd cycle; Goal:
joint policy with recommendations on
the organisation of the 3rd cycle in
medicine
2. Scientific Research during medical
school and postgraduate training;
Goal: joint policy with recommenda-
tions on the importance of medical
research during undergraduate and
postgraduate Training
3. MEDINE 2; Goal: define a working
strategy within the network
4. EU Directive on the recognition of
p r o f e s s i o n a l q u a l i f i c a t i o n s
(2005/36); Goal: joint recommenda-
tions as to what to change in the di-
rective when it comes to the revision
phase (expected 2011)
5. Workshops; Goal: develop a team
and a template to deliver workshops
to medical students and junior doc-
tors in leadership train-
ing and coping with tran-
sition between medical
student/junior doctor
6. Euromedmobility;
Goal: have the students‘
part of the project done
(mainly collecting and filling in infor-
mation on clerkship options
abroad); www.medicalmobility.eu
7. Networking between medical
students and junior doctors at the
national level; Goal: facilitate the
contact between organisations that
represent medical students and
junior doctors at the national level
What EMSA needs now, is at least
one student responsible for each
project we would like to work on,
who then gets in touch with one
doctor who will primarily deal with
the topic on behalf of PWG. So
please send an email to emo-
[email protected] if you are inter-
ested in one/some of them or have
any questions or other ideas!
And later on, while making the closer,
outcome-based cooperation between
EMSA and PWG become reality, an-
other picture of your graduation is
likely to come up in your mind:
—YOU at a turning point of your life
shortly before becoming an active
member of PWG, before continuing to
use your capabilities and enthusiasm
to improve the working conditions of
around 300.000 European junior
doctors, before continuing to discov-
er Europe and make new friends
from 25 countries, before the next
one-in-a-lifetime-experience.
So, enjoy EMSA, enjoy PWG, enjoy
your life, enjoy especially being a phy-
sician and see you soon somewhere
in Europe!
Yours
Verena Thiel
EMO-LO 2008/09
Page 6 E U R O M E D S
B R E A K I N G T H E S I L E N C E … I N A T H E N S ! M A R C H - M A Y 2 0 0 9
Have you ever
had the experi-
ence as medi-
cal student of
being in front of
a deaf patient
who could not
tell you any de-
tails about his medical condition, his
symptoms, his feelings? If not, there
is a great probability that you will in
the future, as tomorrow‘s physicians.
In the world, more than 250 million
people are experiencing hearing im-
pairment, among them 1/3 of this
number only in developed countries.
Hearing loss is considered to be the
2nd leading cause of Years Lived with
Disability (YLD) thus tremendously
affecting the quality of life of many
people around us. Despite the recent
technological advances in Medicine
with the increasing use of cochlear
implants in children with hearing
problems, there is still a need in
society for better communication
with people who are ineligible for
such a treatment. This led to the
conclusion that learning how to take
a deaf patient‘s history using the
local sign language is of a great
importance for medical students,
given the fact that more than 70%
of all information of a patient‘s con-
dition comes from the conversation
between the patient and their doc-
tor.
A dream came true for the FMO
of HelMSIC-Athens at the Nation-
al and Kapodistrian University of
the Greek capital, as HelMSIC
decided to organize for the first
time the ―Breaking the Silence‖
project last March. The language
courses took place at the Medi-
cal School and the whole project
was brought to reality with the coop-
eration of the Greek NGO ―Act‖,
which provided the teacher and the
translator as well as some of the ma-
terial given to the participants in the
last course.
The project‘s organizing committee
was led by Marilyn Bompou, 4th year
medical student and HelMSIC‘s Vice-
president on external affairs and EM-
SA national coordinator for 2009 and
was supported by some of the partici-
pants and the medical education
team of HelMSIC-Athens.
The overall general impression was
that the project was a great success,
as the participants had the chance to
learn the basics in Greek sign-
language and some necessary skills
and vocabulary for taking a deaf pa-
tient‘s history, something they were
also able to test during the final
course, when each one of them tried
to communicate with a ―pretending‖
deaf patient.
Teaching medical students the sign-
language, eliminating social barri-
ers, improving the doctor-patient
relationship and, of course, great
fun, that‘s what Breaking the Si-
lence…in Athens project 2009 was
all about! Until the next series of
courses… greetings from Athens!
For more information on the project
contact the OC at: breakingthesi-
[email protected] or Marilyn
Bompou (coordinator) at: marilyn-
Europeanly yours,
Kostas Roditis, MD
Breaking the Silence project supervi-
sor-FMO of Athens
Alumni National Coordinator of
HelMSIC 2007/09
EMSA European Integration Director
2006/07
Page 7 E U R O M E D S
M E D I C A L I N F O R M A T I C S = C O O P E R A T I O N O F E E S T E C + E M S A ?
Before you read this, you
might think: ―What does
this combination of letters
mean?‖. Of course you
know the meaning of part of
this, because you are a member of
either organization. So to explain brief-
ly: EESTEC is the same organization as
EMSA, only in a different field.
EESTEC= Electrical Engineering STu-
dents‘ European association
EMSA= European Medical Students‘
Association
Ok, you might understand this, but why
are you reading this? Why do we want
you to know about this other organiza-
tion? We will start at the beginning…
One amazing idea
When a few of our members met each
other at the Leadership Summer
School ‗09 in Split, Croatia, they were
not only partying and learning about
leadership, but were interested to
know more about each other (not
just on social level!).
They ended up trying to convince
each other how the Informatics part
of the Healthcare system is really
important and growing all the time.
(e.g. Telemedicine, Electronic
Health Record, video-surgery, etc.)
So luckily
some of
them, who
were still ca-
pable of say-
ing something that makes sense, tried
to save them from getting into a fight
and said: ‗But there is still so much
more we can do, if we just knew more
about each other‘s field‘.
Eyes started to glisten, smiles were
rising, you could see how in their
heads lamps lighted and one great
idea was born: a combined project!
‗Let‘s set up a project that enables
students to learn more about both
fields and think of some great ideas
that can (and hopefully will) be used in
practice.‘
We can exchange our knowledge and
develop it even further into a great
project that will enable
us to think of new pro-
grams and ideas to im-
plement in the modern
Medical Informatics field.
How should we cooperate?
We want to join strong sides of our
organizations in order to make togeth-
er something useful and powerful for
the whole European society, but still to
have enough fun and to enjoy our
great EESTEC and EMSA Spirit.
EESTEC and EMSA want to combine
Medicine and Informatics during a one
week lasting project. Brainstorming
and then fine-tuning great ideas, by
young, enthusiastic students who are
interested in this field, will result in
one or more new ideas or projects.
This will be of value for all of us, be-
cause they might be used in ‗real life‘.
The project will have a specific topic
in Medical Informatics which still has
to be chosen. Any idea that is sug-
gested might be the topic for this
interesting event!
Why Medical Informatics?
Medical Informatics is the most pop-
ular field at this moment among
medical and electrical engineering
scientists because it pushes devel-
opment and promotion of modern
technology with purpose of protecting
public health.
This will be the chance for EESTEC and
EMSA to promote ourselves and to
reach the other sides of the Medical
Informatics branch.
By developing a Medical Informatics
branch, society is saving huge
amounts of money which, in most of
the countries of Europe, is a big issue.
This is why there are more and more
calls for projects in this field. Europe
wants to save money by developing
Medical Informatics, and that is where
we step in.
Our ideas, motivation, enthusiasm,
knowledge, resource, enables us to
apply for those grants and give our
contribution to development of this
field.
After all, we
want to push
the develop-
ment of our
students in
order to reach
their full poten-
tial. You can
even see this
within EESTEC
and EMSA a lot
of students, are specializing in differ-
ent fields of Medical Informatics like:
Biomedicine, Bioinformatics, e -
Health...
We want to integrate our students fast-
er in this environment where they will
be future specialists. We want to do
this, because we make future leaders.
MIE 2009 in Sarajevo
This year the local committee of EES-
TEC in Sarajevo got an invitation to
help in organizing the International
Conference of the European Federa-
tion for Medical Informatics called
―MIE 2009‖, which was held in Saraje-
vo from 30th of August till 2nd of Sep-
tember. The MIE organizing commit-
tee asked for staff, to help with equip-
ment and to make sure that everything
goes fine during sessions, also to run
the whole registration process for
more than 500 people and to help
them with logistic.
They informed those members off
EESTEC and EMSA who started idea
of cooperation, about this invitation
and about the conference in gen-
eral. Even though, it was the period
of exams, they accepted to help
with organizing this conference for
one very simple reason:
“What would be a better chance to
get some fresh ideas and get to
know people that know more about
this subject, than this MIE?“
And that is what we did, we reached
some strong people who have been
working in this area for a long time
and who are
very re-
spected and
admired by
the wide
community
of Medical
Informatics.
These im-
portant per-
sons were
really im-
pressed by our motivation and will
to work on this field together, and
they encourage us to continue with
this project. We should not give up,
because as they say, this is one of
the most important fields for the
protection of human mankind. Eu-
rope will want to invest in develop-
ment of this field and for that, they
need specialists. If we start to build
specialists in an early stage of edu-
cation then we can expect huge
support from Europe.
What lies ahead?
On the end, we would like to ask
you all to think about this mutual
cooperation. As you can see there is
already one idea which will connect
both organizations, but off course
there will be more to follow.
Your input is not only an opportunity to
get known within this world of enthusi-
astic young people, to spread your
name, but also, to get in touch with
professionals from this field and to
establish a great idea. This idea will be
the outcome of this event and might
be of interest for many companies
right now.
So think of the opportunities for you in
this joined project and in the future
within this entire field. Think of the
chance to have some influence and to
set a new motion in Eastern and West-
ern Europe, within Electrical Engineer-
ing, Computer Science and Medicine.
Give your spirit and ensure that Medi-
cal Informatics = Healthy Future!
Denis RUDONJA
EESTEC International Trainer
EESTEC LC Sarajevo
Oversight Committee
Mobile: +387 61 864
674
e-Mail: denisrudon-
Naomi BEGEMANN
EMSA European Inte-
gration Director
2009/10
EMSA International
Trainer
Mobile: +31 (0)6 190
130 43
e-Mail: nbe-
Page 8 E U R O M E D S
Page 9 E U R O M E D S
S P A R K O F H U M A N İ T Y
A story of how the children with cere-
bral paralysis made me reevaluate my
life…
I would not be quite correct if I said it
all started at ZIMS, but it‘s a good a
place to start off as any other…
For those of you that are not familiar
with ZIMS, the Zagreb International
Medical Summit is an annual science
congress organized by EMSA Zagreb. A
perfect place to share knowledge, ide-
as and to start new forms of coopera-
tion.
The latter happened to me. Jasna, a
student from Rijeka, approached me
and asked if I would be interested in
coming to Rijeka in what was then a
few weeks time to the First Croatian
Concert of Students of Medicine orga-
nized in humanitarian causes, as a
funds raiser for children with cerebral
paralysis. Culture and humanitarian-
ism in one place? I was sold within a
fraction of a second!
The week went by and before I knew it
I was on the highway probing my new
mobile internet and going to Rijeka! J
And no, I was not driving and surfing at
the same time. Honest!
Coming to Rijeka brought back
memories…
But nothing compared to what was
to follow!
I soon met the man that organized it
all. Curiously enough, we share the
first name. So the introduction was
rather funny. We came to the venue
and I met most of the OC and a
few… Artists. J
Later that evening… The concert…
I can not begin to explain how won-
derful it was! Rachmaninov, Liszt
and other classics in a perfect mix
with great performers!
As a student of medicine I was
proud of our fellow colleagues, as
an art lover I was amazed, as a per-
son I was touched.
At the end of the concert children
with cerebral paralysis also sang a
song. Seeing them singing made me
think… Made a lot of us think… And
some even cry!
If they can have such passion in life,
if they could, in spite of everything,
be so persistent, so strong, so full of
life! Then certainly there is nothing a
determined mind can not achieve!
After seeing, hearing and experienc-
ing… Love for art, for culture and for
each other that evening, I can only
hope that the spirit I felt there will lin-
ger with me for quite a while.
I trust that my paths will lead me to
Rijeka again, to my newly made
friends and to such culture. A culture
that once was and again will be at the
core of medicine. At the core of human
being…
T. K.
M E D İ C İ N E - E N G İ N E E R İ N G C O O P E R A T İ O N : M I E 2 0 0 9 İ N S A R A J E V O
A N A M A Z I N G I D E A
When some of our members met each
other at the Leadership Summer
School '09 in Split, Croatia, they were
not only partying and learning about
leadership, but were interested to
know more about each other (not just
on social level!) They ended up trying
to convince each other how the
Engineering part of the Healthcare
system is really important and growing
all the time (e.g. Bioengineering,
Telemedicine, Electronic Health
Record, video-surgery, etc.)
Eyes started to glisten, smiles were
rising, you could see how in their
heads lamps lighted and one great
idea was born: a joint project!
'Let's set up a project that enables
students to learn more about this
combination of our fields and think
of some great ideas that can (and
hopefully will) be used in practice.'
H O W S H O U L D W E
C O O P E R A T E ?
The idea quickly started to be
developed in the minds of all our
assoc iat ions . Te lemedic ine,
Bioengineering... areas where
sciences as medicine, pharmacy
and engineering overlap, thus creating
the perfect field for cooperation, and
the optimal ground to start building a
joint project.
Five associations are currently
involved in this project:
EMSA (European Medical Students'
Associat ion), EPSA (European
P h a r m a c e u t i c a l S t u d e n t s
Association ), IPSF (International
Pharmaceutical Students Federation)
and EESTEC (Electrical Engineering
Students' European Association).
Each one providing the point of view of
their field of studies, to contribute to
the whole project from a
multi-disciplinary approach,
and make it suitable for
every of our members.
The project is currently
being developed, shaped
and es tab l i shed by
representatives of the five
associations. Some actions
are being taken little by
little, strengthening our
links and building the
perfect basis for bigger
actions.
A project from which all
our members will get
benefits, a project which
will help all our associations to grow.
A project to believe in and to work
and develop during the future
months.
This has just began. You can expect a
lot of news coming up during the next
months, to which for sure you won't
remain indifferent.
M I E 2 0 0 9 I N S A R A J E V O
Joint participation in MIE 2009 in
Sarajevo has been one of the first
actions taken by two of the
associations which conform this
project: EMSA and EESTEC. This year
the local committee of EESTEC in
Sarajevo got an invitation to help in
organiz ing the Internat iona l
Conference of the European
Federation for Medical
Informatics called ―MIE
2009”, which was held in
Sarajevo from 30th of
August till 2nd of September.
T h e M I E o r g a n i z i n g
committee asked for staff, to
help with equipment and to make
sure that everything goes fine
during sessions, also to run the
whole registration process for more
than 500 people and to help them
with logistic. They informed those
members of EESTEC and EMSA who
started idea of cooperation, about
this invitation and about the
conference in general.
Even though, it was the period of
exams, they accepted to help with
organizing this conference for one
very simple reason: “What would be
a better chance to get some fresh
ideas and get to know people that
know more about this subject, than
this MIE?“ And that is what we did,
we reached some strong people
who have been working in this area
for a long time and who are very
respected and admired by the wide
community of Medical Informatics.
These important persons were
really impressed by our motivation
and will to work on this field
together, and they encourage us to
continue with this project. We
should not give up, because as they
say, this is one of the most
important fields for the protection of
human mankind. Europe will
want to invest in development
of this field and for that, they
need specialists. If we start to
build specialists in an early
stage of education then we
can expect huge support from
Europe.
W H A T L I E S A H E A D ?
On the end, we would like to ask you
all to think about this mutual
cooperation. As
you can see there is already one idea
which wi l l connect al l our
organizations, but of course there will
be more to follow. Your input is not
only an opportunity to get known
within this world of enthusiastic
young people, to spread your name,
but also, to get in touch with
professionals from this field and to
establish a great idea. This idea will
be the outcome of this event and
might be of interest for many
companies right now. So think of the
opportunities for you in this joint
project and in the future within this
entire field. Think of the chance to
have some influence and to set a
new motion in Eastern and Western
Europe, within Electrical Engineering,
Computer Science and Medicine.
Give your spirit and ensure that
Medicine + Engineering = Healthy
Future!
Denis Rudonja
EESTEC International Trainer
EESTEC LC Sarajevo Oversight
Committee
Naomi Begemann
European Integration Director
EMSA International Trainer
Page 10 E U R O M E D S
It is two o‘ clock in the morning and I
am in a dazzling crowd of people at
the airport of Egypt.
After I have been in line for a long
time for the inspection of my pass-
port, (and then I had to go back to
another line because I forgot to buy a
visa…) I could finally make my entry
into the beautiful country: Egypt. The
country of the pyramids, pharaohs
and the immemorial fascination of
even Julius Caesar.
After I had the feeling as it would be
―my last day to live‖, during my ad-
venturous journey to the hotel (the
drivers are working 24/7, therefore I
had to wake up mine every ten
minutes),
I was fascinated by the glorious hotel
in Alexandria. The hotel was truly
luxurious and magnificent!
World HSS
World HSS is a cooperation between
EMSA with IFMSA (International Fed-
eration of Medical Students‘ Associa-
tions) , EPSA (European Pharmaceuti-
cal Students‘ Association) and IPSF
(International Pharmaceutical Stu-
dents‘ Association).
The aim of this symposium is to stim-
ulate ―multidisciplinary working‖
within health Care.
The program
The program consisted out of four
days with lectures, trainings and
working groups. There was an Educa-
tion day, a Global Health day, an Eth-
ics day and an IP collaboration day.
―Teamwork‖ within health Care, es-
pecially between the fields of medi-
cine and pharmacology was the main
theme during the symposium.
The introduction seemed to be a
speech of a fantastic guru! There was
told that the cooperation between
these two fields, should be a
―partnership.‖ To underline this state-
ment, students held each other´s
hands within a circle. A perfect ice-
breaker for a week full of education,
surprises and naturally parties!
During the lecture ―Introduction to
health systems‖ dr. S. Siddiqi of the
WHO-Egypt explained us the ele-
ments of health systems, namely
workforce, technology, infrastruc-
ture, finances, governance and in-
formation and the correlation be-
tween them. Because of this, the
participants were given a good over-
view of what a health system really
means and how it can and should
function. I noticed the importance of
―partnership‖ between medicine
and pharmacology during the work-
ing groups. There was a case about
a boy living in a developing country
with a Burkitt´s lymphoma. The
parents had to make a decision out
of three kinds of drug therapy.
Though medical students had more
knowledge about the symptoms, of
the disease and about the commu-
nication with the parents of this boy,
pharmaceutical students knew
much more about the side effects
and interaction of different kinds of
drugs. The interaction between our
fields helped our team to give ad-
vise to the parents, during this case.
Students were also thinking about
new cooperation projects, during
this symposium, and existing pro-
jects were discussed as well.
The evenings were filled with parties
of course, with students of Poland,
Slovenia, Greece and Egypt among
others, we did the salsa, belly dance
and Turkish dance. (It was truly a
work-out I must say…)
At the last day of my stay, I went to
Cairo to see the famous pyramids at
sunset. I understood why our ances-
tors believed that these pyramids
were one of the seven miracles of
the world. Really amazing…!!
The importance of ―multidisciplinary
working‖
I would like to explain the im-
portance of ―multidisciplinary work-
ing‖ through a case in my own coun-
try (The Netherlands)
There is a criminal case which has
reached the news, in which a
woman has killed her child and her
husband with an axe during their
sleep after that she tried to commit
suicide. She was using anti-
deppressives (seroxat) in a high
dose. The anti-depressives were
prescribed by a GP. The discussion
is if the anti-depressives weren´t the
cause of her crime for she could be
in a psychosis during this period.
Little information is available about
the side-effects of anti-depressives,
while GP´s prescribe these drugs
daily. With a better cooperation
between medicine and pharmacy,
there would be a modification at the
protocol, through which GP´s
couldn´t prescribe a medicine that
easy nowadays, of which there is so
much information unknown about
the possible side-effects and
interaction. In the VS, there are
discussions like these for many year
about so called ¨Prozac killings¨.
The cooperation between these fields
in health Care varies tremendously
between different countries of
course.
During the World HSS I learned that
pharmacy has a eminent position
within hospitals in London, and that
meetings are already taken place in
the presence of a pharmacist.
Would you like to organize the educa-
tional program of the next World
HSS?
There are plans to organize a new
edition of the World HSS in 2011.
EMSA is still looking for two repre-
sentatives, who would like to set-up
the educational program together
with representatives of IFMSA, EPSA
and IPSF. Would you like to do this
or would you like to organize a pro-
ject regarding ―multidisciplinary work-
ing‖and do you have any questions?
Don‘t hesitate to contact me.
Micky las van Bennekom
Medical Ethics Director
Page 11 E U R O M E D S
W O R L D H E A L T H C A R E S T U D E N T S ’ S Y M P O S İ U M
EMSA – c/o Standing Committee of
European Doctors (CPME) – Rue
Guimard 15 – B1040 Brussels -
Belgium
Web: www.emsa-europe.org
E-Mail: [email protected]
WHAT IS EMSA?
The European Medical Students‘ Association (EMSA) was founded in
Brussels in 1991. It integrates medical students in geographical Europe
through activities organised for and by medical students and representing
them in Brussels. Faculties are members, not the individual countries. Since
EMSA‘s foundation many medical faculties throughout Europe enrolled with
EMSA. It currently units 50 medical faculties from countries across Europe.
EMSA seeks to improve the health and the quality of care of the citizens of
Europe by acting as a conduit for increased interaction and sharing of
knowledge between European medical students in the areas of medical education,
ethics and science.
E U R O P E A N M E D İ C A L
S T U D E N T S ’ A S S O C I A T I O N
So this was my first Euromeds edition as the new Secretary General. I really hope you all en-
joyed it!
I would like to thank all the people who wrote an article for this edition, as well as all the oth-
er people who helped me with making this Euromeds.
Hopefully everybody who reads this Euromeds editions will write an article for the next Eu-
romeds. I look forward to receiving your articles! Remember, without your articles there
wouldn‘t be an Euromeds.
I would like to end this Euromeds by wishing you all a merry Christmas and
a happy New Year! Enjoy the holidays.
Jeetindra Balak
Secretary General 2009/10 ([email protected])
S E E Y O U I N N E X T E D I T I O N ! Acknowledgement
Articles do not neces-
sarily reflect the opin-
ion of EMSA. All arti-
cles are the copyrights
of the EUROPEAN
MEDICAL STUDENTS‘
ASSOCIATION (EMSA).
We thank all of you for
your contributions.
The objectives of EMSA are:
° To form a network between European medical students to facilitate European integration and develop a sense of European
identity
° To represent and voice the opinions of the medical students of Europe
° To act as a forum for all medical students in Europe, to discuss topics related to the fields of medical education, medical ethics, and
medical research
° To promote the highest standards in European medical education and ensure the quality of healthcare in Europe
° To promote training, activities and projects related to health in Europe to the benefit of medical students and society
° To facilitate intercultural understanding by organizing social and cultural events
° To cooperate with other student organizations and with organizations representing the medical profession
A couple of the activities EMSA organises are: Teddy Bear Hospital, Twinning Project, Eurotalk, EMSA Summer Schools, EMS Council,
EMSA-skiing week, JEMSA and many more. For more information about EMSA projects you can contact the EMSA European Board
(mailto: [email protected]) or visit our website at: www.emsa-europe.org.
