Workgroups
Workgroups are the heart of the society — each focuses on its own field, from public health to international exchange.
Education workgroup
The Education workgroup brings ideas together with real ways to act, and is the right choice for anyone who cares about education. Its members greatly want medical students to become even better doctors than they would by simply completing the curriculum the faculty sets for them. In recent years the group has been marked by trainings and seminars whose places fill within minutes. Students themselves understand very well which skills and knowledge the curriculum leaves short, and the Education workgroup has found those gaps and set about improving matters. Practical clinical trainings are an important part. To feel more confident starting work in a hospital as an auxiliary nurse or assistant doctor, the group lets you practise peripheral vein cannulation, suturing and applying a cast. Hospital visits to discover placement and job opportunities, the traditional residency evenings and the general/assistant doctor survival courses are popular among students, and taking part in them has become part of growing into a doctor in Estonia. How to join? Get in touch with the workgroup lead: nome@eays.ee
Sports workgroup
The Sports workgroup looks after medical students’ physical activity. Organising tournaments and occasionally sports seminars, its members hold that the surest route to balanced health is, alongside endless mental development, getting yourself into decent physical shape as well. The Sports workgroup is beyond words. A company surrounded not only by the smell of sweat but by the duty of keeping its fellows in sporting form. Over the academic year, indulgences are offered even to the most hardened armchair athletes — from the Modern Medical Pentathlon and volleyball to spring armchair sports and the spring football tournament. If you find rather more energy flowing in your veins than your basal metabolism calls for, know that the sports group has an outlet for it. Come and take part in our events, or find out at a meeting what is done, for whom, how and why at all — because in truth we are Livonia’s finest riders… and if that is genuinely wrong, then we do not want to be right. How to join? Get in touch with the workgroup lead: sport@eays.ee
Public health workgroup
The Public Health workgroup covers a very wide field — our aim is to teach people of every age to make healthy choices and to be attentive to their own health and that of those around them. We have therefore aimed our activities at different age groups, with projects suited to kindergarten children and to people of more advanced years alike. The shared wish of the group’s members is that the world’s most health-aware and happiest people should live in Estonia, and we work towards that together every day. For the youngest in the family we offer the Teddy Bear Hospital, visiting kindergartens or the children’s clinic to get to know the work of a doctor together through play. The mental health project is aimed at schoolchildren: students who have completed the necessary training discuss mental health with young people. The Drugs Crash Course, which took flight at the student days, is also heading into schools. Lecturers on the vaccination project give talks mainly at antenatal classes, to support expectant parents through that head-spinning period. Alongside its projects, the workgroup also pays attention to health indicator screening. Its largest event is Diabetes Day, when we measure blood sugar free of charge for anyone who wants it, in shopping centres across Estonia. Workgroup services: Teddy Bear Hospital, mental health lecture, vaccination lecture, health indicator measurement. How to join? Get in touch with the workgroup lead: npo@eays.ee
Sexual health workgroup
The Sexual Health workgroup is dedicated to promoting sexual and reproductive health in Estonia. With us you can train as a lecturer for sexual health seminars and give schoolchildren engaging, evidence-based seminars on a range of sexual health topics. For those who would rather work with adults, there is a separate route into pleasure-related subjects through the Orgasm Lab. Students interested in social activism also find work here, since we are active in advocacy and in defending access to sexual health services. At the same time we do not forget our own members’ wellbeing, so we often hold enjoyable internal evenings and joint events such as film nights and pole dancing sessions. We have two main sexual education projects — sexual health seminars for schoolchildren, and the Orgasm Lab, which is aimed more at young adults. Training for sexual health lecturers takes place in autumn and is open to anyone who wants to come. You can become an Orgasm Lab lecturer once you already have a fair amount of experience with schoolchildren. Workgroup services: Orgasm Lab, sexual health lectures. How to join? Get in touch with the workgroup lead: nora@eays.ee
Peace & human rights workgroup
The task of the Peace and Human Rights workgroup is to make Estonia more united. We have set out to address the concerns and problems of society’s more vulnerable groups — for example, we raise awareness of how serious intimate partner violence is in our society. We also take on whatever current issues might threaten human rights and equality. We try to do that by giving the floor to professionals in the field and to the people affected. Our work also covers global health topics, so that critical human rights subjects get discussed. The workgroup addresses environmental health within and outside the Society and stands for sustainable practice. Our workgroup is very wide-ranging and often works together with other workgroups and organisations. International joint projects are characteristic too. We have invited speakers from the WHO to the Defence Forces, held ethics evenings with law students, organised charity game days for children, and much else besides. The Safety project, the Conscious Nutrition workshops and the Disaster Medicine project also sit with us. In the Safety project we go and talk to primary school children about their autonomy, with the aim of preventing domestic violence. The Conscious Nutrition workshops introduce schoolchildren to the basics of healthy and environmentally conscious eating. The Disaster Medicine project runs various events such as crisis and triage training and disaster medicine talk shows. How to join? Get in touch with the workgroup lead: norp@eays.ee
Internal events workgroup
The workgroup’s aim is to create a sense of belonging among the Society’s members, to make it possible to meet new and interesting people, and to take some time out alongside demanding studies. It does that through entertainment events aimed at as many members as possible. Traditional examples are the spring and autumn picnics, the EAÜS Christmas party and MEDICINA. Besides those larger events, the workgroup also offers smaller monthly interludes — film or board game evenings, for instance. There are absolutely no limits here. The workgroup is generally marked by an abundance of ideas, good teamwork, openness and the wish to keep the Society together. Drugs Crash Course The Drugs Crash Course (UCC for short) is a project aimed at preventing drug-related problems and raising awareness of the dangers of drugs among young people. The project sits with the Internal Events workgroup. UCC classes cover alcohol, e-cigarettes, cigarettes, nicotine pouches and various drugs. They discuss their effects and harms and, preventively, how to get help — because in Estonia most drug-related deaths happen because people are afraid to call for help. If you want to contribute to the project, get in touch with the project leads: ucc@eays.ee. How to join? Get in touch with the workgroup lead: siseyritused@eays.ee
Science workgroup
The Science workgroup supports University of Tartu medical students in learning evidence-based medicine. Its aim is to introduce students to research and to the ways of contributing to the advance of medicine, and to involve students in research projects from their very first years of study. To that end the workgroup organises a number of projects and events over the academic year, offering the chance to hear personal accounts and research projects and to take part in trainings and competitions. Together with East Tallinn Central Hospital we run a case report writing competition and training in statistics and research methods, and with the journal Eesti Arst a competition for research articles. The monthly journal club teaches structured reading of research papers, and at the biomedicine circle residents and doctors alike share their experiences of study and research — with us you get the skills and ideas you will need in later medical practice. At the annual neuroscience conference, organised together with the neuroscience circle, students present research in neurology and neurosurgery that broadens horizons and knowledge of neuroscience. The Science workgroup also takes part in what other workgroups do — with the Exchange workgroup we help organise students’ research exchanges in Estonia, and with the Curare workgroup we contribute to publishing research articles written by medical students. Every May there is also the White Coat Run, organised jointly by several workgroups. Journal club We meet, look for flaws in researchers’ studies, and learn how to avoid them and how it could be done better. We practise critically appraising the quality of a research paper and build our knowledge of different study designs. We answer the questions: can the paper be trusted, and can its results therefore be applied in real (clinical) practice? If not, what would a study look like whose results could be trusted? The paper is presented by a presenter, and reading it beforehand is not compulsory, though it is recommended. You too can pick a paper on a topic and in a format you like and, analysing it through with the supervisor, draw out new knowledge of methodical and critical thinking, which we will very much need in our future work as doctors. The journal club is supervised by Marika Tammaru, head of the research department at East Tallinn Central Hospital. Journal club contact: ajakirjaklubi@eays.ee How to join? Get in touch with the workgroup lead: nore@eays.ee
Curare
Curare is the voice of EAÜS — a magazine that brings together the student bored in a lecture, the lecturer enjoying a lunch break, the busy activist and the curious passer-of-time in the Biomedicum. The print issue, published twice a year, gathers the highlights of the semester, lecturers’ funniest sayings, the most pressing problems, answers to our burning questions about the most colourful characters, and much more. On the website you can read about the everyday troubles and joys, successes and trials of students, lecturers and other interesting figures, and discover sides of university life that mere observation might miss. Anyone who wants to contribute to the Society’s magazine is welcome in the Curare editorial team. There is no magazine without stories, so a way with words always finds work here — but that is far from all. What would our old Estonian teachers say if every piece did not go through careful language editing, and how could anyone read a magazine without a layout editor to bring stories and pictures together? Speaking of pictures — they are said to be worth more than a thousand words, so our photographers have an irreplaceable role too. And of course we cannot forget our dear readers. They have long known that Curare is the best place to find an answer to a nagging question, or inspiration to ask new ones. Which elective to choose? What is open to an enthusiastic student outside coursework? How to withstand exam pressure? How to get a foot in the door of an operating theatre? Bring any question, idea or suggestion to the editor-in-chief. How to join the editorial team? Get in touch with the Curare editor-in-chief: curare@eays.ee
International exchange workgroup
The workgroup gathers those interested in the cultures and languages of other countries, who want to broaden their horizons and to put on a memorable exchange and social programme for incoming students. Every year a couple of dozen students from our faculty travel abroad for a month’s placement, and as many international students come to us in Tartu and Tallinn. What we do Student exchanges have been organised since the founding of IFMSA (International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations), the umbrella organisation of EAÜS, in 1951. The EAÜS exchange workgroup organises both clinical and research exchanges. Internationally, more than 90 countries take active part in the exchange programme, and each year over 15,000 students worldwide do a placement abroad through it. There is work all year round, above all in summer, since most international students arrive in Estonia in July and August — though we also receive students in January and March. Anyone is welcome who wants to spend time in international company, practise languages and make new friends. All of the workgroup’s work centres on sending Estonian students abroad and receiving international students in Estonia. We hold introductory evenings about exchanges and then open the call for applications. After that we handle students’ documents, organise various trainings for them and sort out problems as they arise. For incoming students we organise accommodation, meals and the social programme together with contact persons and local coordinators, whose role is to answer international students’ questions, help them in every way and spend time with them. How to join? Get in touch with the workgroup leads: neo@eays.ee