Experience reports from the FWJ at the University Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
Experience reports from the FWJ at the University Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
Here, participants in the Voluntary Scientific Year (FWJ) report on their experiences at the University Clinic for Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at the University of Oldenburg.
Mila Hoffmann, FWJ 2025/2026
My FWJ at the paediatric clinic in three words:
- exciting
- varied
- challenging
In secondary school, I decided that I wanted to study medicine. A friend of mine told me about the opportunity to do a Voluntary Scientific Year, which she had completed before starting her medical studies and which was also recognised as a positive experience. This proved to be a good opportunity for me to gain confidence in my career aspirations and to learn as much as possible about medicine.
My place is in the paediatric clinic at the hospital. Here I can work on different wards, in the operating theatre or in the laboratory. The nice thing here is the variety and the opportunity to see several areas. We are very much encouraged and supported here to gain different perspectives of the academic appointment and to have a say in the direction we want to take. We are also invited to and taken along to events where many different representatives of interdisciplinary working groups exchange ideas. Here we experience first-hand what it means to work scientifically.
In addition to the theoretical part, we are also allowed to take part in sample generation in the laboratory, for example, or are an integral part of the follow-up consultation for children who were born with a risk factor, such as premature birth. After discharge from hospitalisation, the parents and their children present themselves to us in the office hours, so the children are usually still very young. As FWJ students, we are involved in many different ways, record what happens in the office hours and are also allowed to assist with some of the examinations.
Processes quickly become more independent, and so do you. At the beginning of my FWJ, I didn't just want theoretical knowledge, but also to be able to develop personally and take on responsibility, and I definitely got that here.
This year we were two FWJ students in the paediatric clinic for the first time, which was great because we were able to gain our first experiences together. Nevertheless, it was also important to be given tasks to do on your own, projects that you had to organise yourself and feel responsible for. For me, for example, this was the introduction of a special hearing test in the paediatric clinic, for which I was allowed to sit in at the Protestant hospital and can now carry out the test here. It can be difficult at first, but it feels all the better when you've done it on your own, as you usually don't have enough confidence in yourself. And even if you need help, that's okay. I have also learned here that asking questions is important and that "not knowing" can also be important for optimising processes.
I would also like to emphasise the team at this FWJ position. Everyone here is extremely open and courteous, I feel useful here and that my tasks and wishes are taken seriously and I receive a lot of trust, support and patience, even in a very stressful working day. You also have to learn to deal with that here, but it's realistic for this line of work. It has also taught me how to deal with stressful situations better and how to organise myself faster and better, a skill that can also be very important later in life, especially when studying. With regard to my studies, I have seen and heard many perspectives here, through contact with doctors, nurses, etc., but also with medical students, and was thus able to get a better picture of what to expect. I also have the opportunity to attend lectures or take part in projects for or by students in the hospital, e.g. bedside teaching or the teddy bear hospital.
In conclusion, I can say that this year has also had an incredibly motivating effect on me. I was able to gain insights into the professional field, experience special situations and was given advice that will probably stay with me and support me for a very long time and that I will remember positively, as will the contacts that were made here. I now have the feeling that I am not starting my studies blindly, but with a lot of knowledge and an idea of how I would like to work later, and this has now become much more concrete and, above all, more realistic thanks to the Voluntary Scientific Year.
I would highly recommend this position to anyone who would like to do an FWJ. Between caesarean sections, primary care, exchanges with parents or symposia in Groningen or Mannheim, you also learn a lot about yourself here, get to know your limits or, even more, learn to grow beyond them every day. It is important to ask questions where there are questions, this is the only way to really understand step by step what is behind the processes, everyone makes mistakes and nobody expects you to know everything already. It's all a process, just like scientific work :) It's also important to have fun, and you have more than enough of that here with the team!
Nina Kurandt, FWJ 2021/2022
Hello, my name is Nina and I've been doing a 12-month FWJ at the Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine since 1 September 2021.
Why did you decide to do an FWJ?
After leaving school, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to study medicine or biomedicine - laboratory or hospital, patients or cell cultures. The FWJ at the paediatric clinic is perfect for getting to know the processes and work in a hospital and gaining an insight into the work of doctors. Due to the close cooperation with both the doctors and the paediatric nurses, you come into contact with both academic appointments and their everyday work, can take a look behind the scenes of the outpatient clinic and ward and also learn a lot about the organisational processes in the hospital.
What are your areas of responsibility?
I work in paediatric pneumology and allergology as well as in neonatology. My work focuses on the "PAPI Study" (Pediatric Airway Pathogen Incidenc Study), a study on severe infections with RSV and other respiratory viruses in infants and young children. Our pneumology and allergology ward is usually full of patients, many of whom have respiratory infections. But it's not just this one ward that looks after children who are suitable for the study - as part of patient recruitment, I've also seen patients on the oncology ward and our paediatric intensive care unit. In the case of a respiratory infection that fulfils the inclusion criteria, I talk to the parents and explain the content and aims of the PAPI study to them. If they agree to include their children in the PAPI study, I go through a questionnaire with the parents about their medical history, medical history and measures taken in the context of the current infections. I then pseudonymise the children's data and collect important information using the digital medical record, which is entered into a register. I receive the patients' nasopharyngeal swabs from the laboratory at our hospital, which are taken in our paediatric emergency department. I send these to an external laboratory in Freiburg, where a multiplex PCR is carried out and we often become aware of additional viruses and mixed infections in the swabs. Two and four weeks after discharge, I phone the parents of the RSV-positive children to record the further course of the disease. My tasks as part of the PAPI study also include liaising with the study centre in Hanover and regularly entering data. Since the RSV season in autumn 2021 was very severe, I had my hands full with the PAPI study and was able to include a large number of patients and witness a wide variety of disease histories and infection courses.
I am also involved in Covid data collection, the anaphylaxis register, collecting data from CF patients and had the opportunity to help out with data entry for a study on the neonatal intensive care unit.
I also have the opportunity to get to know other wards, outpatient clinics and areas in the paediatric clinic, help with organisational tasks on the neonatal ward, for example, and can attend university courses, an English course and an anatomy lecture. I have already been able to go on two business trips, sit in on urological, cardiac and paediatric surgery operations and listen to online lectures at the hospital.
What do you think this year will bring you?
A lot! In addition to the medical knowledge that I can acquire, the insight into the many areas, wards and outpatient clinics of the hospital and the university offers that I can take advantage of, this year helps with personal development. Time management, personal responsibility, social skills and communication are some of the skills that are important at work and that you learn and practise every day.
What have you learnt so far during your voluntary service?
An incredible amount! Thanks to the study, I have already learnt a lot about clinical pictures and their symptoms and progression. As I also take blood counts and blood gas analyses, find out about patients' medical histories and get to know a variety of viral pathogens, for example, I get a very diverse insight into different areas of medicine. I have also been able to take part in many conferences, such as an online anaphylaxis training course, lectures on allergological topics and a two-day online seminar for future doctors organised by ZEIT. The university account also gives you access to a large number of scientific papers on a wide range of specialisms, case studies and clinical pictures. And whenever questions arise while reading or regarding patients, the doctors are happy to explain them to you!
What was your highlight of the FWJ?
I can't pinpoint a single highlight. The endoscopies, the anatomy lectures, the conferences, the pneumology and allergology or neuropaediatric office hours, the visits to the paediatric intensive care unit and seeing a patient with an omphalocele in the neonatal intensive care unit were all interesting experiences.
However, my working group and the friendly staff at the paediatric clinic are a daily highlight. The personal interaction is very friendly and I have colleagues who I can turn to at any time and who give me lots of exciting insights into everyday hospital life and medicine.
Why are you doing your voluntary service at the University of Oldenburg of all places?
A Voluntary Scientific Year in this context is only offered in Hanover and Oldenburg. The German Cancer Research Centre offers similar federal volunteer services in the medical field in Heidelberg and Mannheim, but these are not as closely oriented towards research and hospital work. In addition, the public relations work in Oldenburg was very good - an informative website with all the important data, exciting experience reports from the volunteers of previous years and an online information event with the current FWJ volunteers, who report on their activities and everyday working life.
What made the search for accommodation and my move to Oldenburg incredibly easy was that the hospital offered me a room in the nurses' residence, which is right next to the paediatric clinic. I live there with people who are mostly doing nursing training at the hospital.
What advice would you give to future volunteers?
Take a year after school before you start your studies, especially if you're not sure where you want to go! Thanks to my work in the paediatric clinic, I've become sure of what I want to study and have already learned and, above all, seen a lot of things that not only helped me make my decision, but will also be valuable and helpful during my studies. The FWJ has already enriched me in many ways and I would choose it again and again.
An interview with Nina Kurandt and her two FWJ supervisors, Prof Dr Axel Heep and Dr Holger Köster, can be found here.