Publications
02.12.2019
The Power of Patients
Read more CloseThe Swiss healthcare system, worth CHF 84 billion, is financed by health insurance contributions and taxes. In the latest bulletin of the SAMS, Susanne Hochuli, President of the Swiss Patient Organisation (SPO), questions whether this enormous sum is really spent for the benefit of the population.
In the article «The power of the patients» you will learn how the SPO wants to strengthen the patients and build the «fourth power» in the Swiss healthcare system. The SAMS bulletin also contains information about current activities of the Academy and the Swiss Personalized Health Network. It is available in German and French.
SAMS bulletin 4/2019 in French (PDF)
Projects
27.11.2019
The Swiss Clinical Trial Organisation invites to dialogue
Read more CloseHow do patients experience their participation in a clinical study? How are both participants and trial investigators protected against risks during a clinical trial? You can ask such questions on the anniversary website of the Swiss Clinical Trial Organisation (SCTO) which will provide answers in short video clips.
The Swiss Clinical Trial Organisation is celebrating its 10th anniversary and is taking this opportunity to foster dialogue about clinical research. The anniversary project «People. Data. Biosamples. Clinical research – at eye level» offers the opportunity to ask questions related to these topics. Researchers, physicians, patients, authorities, or data managers, will answer them in snappy video portraits starting at the end of January 2020.
Visit the website
Projects
14.11.2019
The recommendations for health-related registries have been updated
Read more CloseRegistries that provide reliable data are becoming increasingly important in the health care system and their number is growing. In order to guarantee their quality, the SAMS has joined forces with the ANQ, the FMH, H+ and unimedsuisse to publish recommendations on the development and operation of health-related registers. Recently, the recommendations issued in 2016 were submitted to a practical test and updated.
A group of ten experts mandated by the SAMS under the supervision of Prof. Anne Lübbeke-Wolff (Geneva) looked into ten Swiss registers. Overall, their evaluation showed that the existing recommendations and the checklist are well applicable in practice. Based on the experts' conclusions, the minimum requirements for data quality assurance and data use needed to be adapted. In addition, several criteria in the checklist were clarified. The updated tools are now available in English, French, German and Italian on the ANQ website.
SAMS Expert report in French (PDF)
Publications
11.11.2019
Personalized medicine: fundamentals for the training of health professionals
Read more CloseConvinced that health professionals should have a common base knowledge of personalized medicine, the SAMS has developed a guide for pregraduate, postgraduate and continuing interprofessional education. The publication was conceived as a reference document presenting the current state of knowledge.
In order to successfully implement the concept of personalized medicine, health professionals need to acquire new skills. With that in mind, the SAMS has set up an interprofessional working group with the aim to compile fundamental knowledge in this area. The online publication is available in French or German and can be downloaded in either full version or as individual chapters.
Full version in French (PDF)
Projects
06.11.2019
smarter medicine: first recommendations for caregivers
Read more CloseThe association «smarter medicine – Choosing Wisely Switzerland» aims to prevent unnecessary medical treatments. The Academic Society for Gerontological Nursing is the first non-medical organization to participate in this initiative. It has published a «Top 5 List» on the care of elderly people.
Unlike the «Top 5 Lists» published so far, these recently published recommendations for gerontological care do not focus on inadequate treatments or over-treatment, but on possible insufficient medical care for patients. A discussion of the five recommendations is desirable wherever elderly people need care. The list is available in French or German.
Top 5 List in French (PDF)
Ethics
31.10.2019
We have restructured the «Ethics» menu
Read more CloseThe Central Ethics Committee (CEC) of the SAMS identifies and discusses ethical challenges arising in medicine. The diversity of themes ranges from A for Animal experiments to T for transplantation. They can now be found on our website in alphabetical order.
The pages of the «Ethics» menu are no longer grouped thematically by domain, but classified from A to Z in a list of keywords. We hope you will enjoy discovering or rediscovering the variety of topics covered by the SAMS. Is something missing or are the links not working as they should? Your comments are very welcome: ethics@samw.ch.
Visit the website
Academy
10.10.2019
Cochrane Library: Free Access to Scientific Knowledge
Read more CloseCurrent scientific findings are decisive for good medical practice. For this reason, the SAMS co-finances free access to the Cochrane Library for everyone living in Switzerland. The online library offers systematic reviews on a wide range of issues and allows one to quickly find out about a topic without knowing all the relevant studies.
To promote the Cochrane Library as a high-quality source of information on medical issues, the FMH and the SAMS are launching a joint campaign in the «Bulletin des médecines suisses». Over the coming weeks, the journal will publish a number of ads and articles on how the Cochrane Library works and where its benefits, opportunities and limits lie.
Further information
SPHN
01.10.2019
New factsheet about the Swiss Personalized Health Network
Read more CloseThe Swiss Personalized Health Network (SPHN) is a national initiative aiming to lay the foundations required to make health-related data accessible for research across the country. The ultimate goal is to promote the development of personalized medicine and health in Switzerland. A newly published SPHN factsheet provides an overview of the vision, the mandate, its key actors and the governance structure.
Since the launch of SPHN in 2017, infrastructures have been analyzed, expanded and coordinated to efficiently manage health data and make them nationally accessible for research, by developing common standards. The initiative has adopted a federative approach by building upon existing data sources and infrastructures. To learn more about the initiative, download the factsheet or visit the SPHN website.
SPHN Fact-Sheet (PDF)