Healthcare research is also dedicated to the question of what influence technical achievements can have on patient care - for example in nursing, where the positioning of patients costs staff a lot of energy. Photo: University of Oldenburg
Kathrin Wandscher is a qualified healthcare and nursing professional. Before starting her Master's degree in Oldenburg, she studied health sciences at Charité Berlin. Photo: University of Oldenburg
Frederik Pohlmann studied Health Sciences/Public Health at the University of Bremen and is now doing his Master's in Health Services Research. Photo: University of Oldenburg
Kathrin Wandscher and Frederik Pohlmann are pioneers. These budding healthcare researchers explain what it’s like to study a subject that has only just been established at the university.
Unusual – that’s certainly how the first two semesters at the University of Oldenburg were for them. “Together, we make up 33 per cent of our degree programme,” says Frederik Pohlmann with a laugh, pointing to himself and his fellow student Kathrin Wandscher. Six students are currently working towards a Master’s degree in health services research, a programme that has only been on offer in Oldenburg since last winter semester. They will be the first graduates.
Senior students and their helpful advice, or past written exams from previous years to help with exam preparation – none of that exists on the Master’s in Health Services Research at the moment. Instead, students and lecturers are experiencing new ‘firsts’ every day: the first seminar, the first work placement, the first research project of their degree.
Wandscher and Pohlmann see the small cohort size as a stroke of luck. “We also had plenty of face-to-face sessions last winter semester,” says Kathrin Wandscher, referring to the coronavirus situation. With just six budding health services researchers, this was no problem. And when the situation became more difficult as the pandemic worsened, the students quickly got together with their lecturers to decide which seminars could easily be held online and which content they would prefer to learn in person.
Both made a conscious decision to take the risk of becoming students in the very first cohort. During their bachelor’s degree in Berlin, Kathrin Wandscher’s lecturers initially recommended an already established master’s programme in health services research at another university. The newly qualified health scientist was promptly offered a place. “However, a fellow student who knew I was from Oldenburg then told me about the Master’s programme being planned here and suggested I should at least attend the information session,” says the qualified health and nursing professional.
Her discussions with Prof. Dr Lena Ansmann and Prof. Dr Falk Hoffmann, who both teach on the degree programme, won the 29-year-old over. The same was true of her fellow student, who had applied for various Master’s degree programmes across Germany from Bremen – only to end up in neighbouring Oldenburg after all. He wants to familiarise himself with as wide a range of research methods as possible during his studies and found this opportunity in the curriculum of the Oldenburg degree programme. Among other things, students learn how to collect quantitative research data, for example through surveys of patients or healthcare staff, and they learn when qualitative methods, such as interviews, are better suited to achieving a research objective. The analysis of the data collected is just as much a part of the timetable as methods of evidence synthesis and the critical evaluation of study results.
Day-to-day life on this relatively new degree programme is characterised by close personal contact. “We’re on first-name terms with all our lecturers,” they both say. Pohlmann finds it helpful that Lena Ansmann and Falk Hoffmann both belong to the younger generation of professors. “They’re good at putting themselves in our shoes as students and are always approachable.” There’s also frequent interaction with those involved in organising the degree programme. “As there isn’t a student body yet, we all take on committee duties as well,” says Frederik Pohlmann, who sits on the examining board and the department council on behalf of the students, whilst Kathrin Wandscher is a member of the admissions committee.
From next semester onwards, this work will be shared amongst several people. That’s when the second class of students will start the Master’s programme. Meanwhile, for Kathrin Wandscher, Frederik Pohlmann and their four fellow students, there are still many ‘firsts’ to experience even in their final year of study – until they are finally presented with their Master’s certificates as the first graduates.
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