The Spring Meeting is coming!

Dear EuroNetters,

As the Spring Meeting approaches (Torino, 11-13th of April), we’d like to share some you some practical information about the meeting venues and the programme.
But first things first, so let’s start with a brief introduction of what EuroNet meetings are and what to expect if you join us.
Most of you reading this newsletter will probably already know that EuroNet meetings are a wonderful opportunity to meet public health residents from other EU countries, creating valuable networks for our present formation and future careers; moreover, it provides to the participants the chance to actively get involved in the different projects that the working groups inside EuroNet carry on throughout all the year.
Another important point that helps to make EuroNet meetings so special is the social programme; even those of you who still have not joined a meeting might have heard about some legendary stories about very big data, pineapples, absinthe voids, huge paellas, not-so-hot tubs in the snowy Slovenian mountains and many more which are better not to be shared on this occasion.
If you want to know more about previous meetings, take a look at our newsletters on http://EuroNetmrph.org/.
Coming to Torino, the meeting opening session will probably take place in the “Aula Magna del Rettorato” (Via Po 15) on Thursday 11 April.
The meeting should start by 14:00 and it will include a brief introduction of the meeting, a presentation of the new board and leads and their action plan for 2019 and a first session to allow the different Working Groups to update and work on their projects.
The following day and on Saturday morning the meeting venue will be the “Aula Magna di Igiene” (Via Santena 5 bis) and the two sessions (morning and afternoon) will be about the two most voted topics during the poll in January: Data Science and Public Health policies regarding fake news, alternative medicine and anti-scientific issues.
For the first topic we will have as our guests some experts from the Institute for Scientific Interchange (ISI Foundation) of Torino and from the Politecnico di Torino, while for the second topic we are waiting for confirmation by guests, although the idea is to use the formula of discussion groups: on these premises, if any of the participants want to share some issues related to PH policies, at a national or international level, and their impact on society and on the clumsy world of anti-scientific movements, please let us know (contacts at the bottom of the article). Examples of these would be how to cope with vaccination coverages, how
to deal with alternative treatments, what can be done on a more training and educational level for PH residents and how we think such issues should be addressed – both as residents and as future professionals.
On the last morning the General Assembly will take place, together with another WGs session, then all free to enjoy what Torino has to offer!
And this allows us to get through a crucial topic: Social Programme!
On one of the two meeting evenings (Thursday or Friday) we will have a world famous “Aperitivo”: this usually consists of a formula where with the first drink you get access to a buffet including a wide range of food, from starters to sweets, served hot and cold; we will choose the location after the subscription form will be closed, options include the beautiful locations of Piazza Vittorio Veneto or a terrace on the Po river. On the other night we will have a more regular dinner in one of the restaurants or trattorie in the city center. For Alberto and for those who call themselves brave, a steaming-hot Bagna Cauda is already waiting.
For those who are staying for the weekend, you can choose whether to have lunches and dinners all together or consider yourself free to enjoy a short holiday, we will ask this via the form just to have an idea.
Anyway, both Angelo and Robin will be fully available all weekend to take you around the city for sightseeing, visiting famous monuments and wineries, buying the best chocolate to take back to those you really care about.
The night will of course be the moment to get into the Torino nightlife, crazy bars and venues are already waiting for the EuroNet invasion!
We have arranged an agreement with the Tomato Backpacker hostel (https://www.tomato.to.it/) for cheaper fares, but the number of places is limited. We will give you the details on how to book in the registration’s opening mails. In case you won’t be able to find accomodations at Tomato, the area delimited by Via Po, the Po river, Corso Dante and Via Nizza, along the metro line or the bus line 18, is the best in terms of transports and proximity to city center (you can find the map on the EuroNet website).

Can’t wait to meet you there!!

The Organisation Team

Contact info: robin.thomas@unito.it, a.dambrosioMD@gmail.com

Which Social Platform is preferred between Turkish Public Health Residents’ for Communication?

I suppose that this is the first article from Turkey in EURONET-MRPH Newsletter. So, I want to share our experience for communication as first. It is very exciting and important to communicate between European students for us. It is also very important to provide a good communication medium between Turkish residents.

However, it is very difficult to choose best social medium, especially if there are hundreds of residents. For example, it is estimated that there are about 500 public health residents in more than 50 medical schools in Turkey. We use google mail group and whatsapp application to get in contact. Well, most of the residents have hesitations to write or to ask to the mail group, and they find whatsapp more practical then the mail group.

They think that they could get answers to their questions rapidly in whatsapp. Although, whatsapp is preferable for notifications, all residents couldn’t participate to residents’ group due to participant limitation.

As a representative of residents in HASUDER (Turkish Society of Public Health Specialists), i had carried out an online survey to choose the best social medium / media which had continued for ten days in November 2018. Then, we discussed the results to decide communication media in Medical Residents Session of 20th National Public Health Congress, Antalya.

Figure 1. Social Media Use of Public Health Residents for Academic Purposes

Total 156 residents completed the online survey (about 1/3 of all residents). Mean age of participants was 29.3±3.2 years and mean duration of residency was 23.5±15.6 months. About three quarters of the residents (73.7%) was female. Please don’t worry; it is not an error, there is apparently female predominance in Turkish public health residents. Most of the participants (84.5%) specified that they used social media every day. More than 90.0% of residents could interest in social media several times in a week. However, only 76.3% of residents specified that they could interest in social media for academic purposes several times in a week.

Youtube, mail groups and whatsapp application were the most used media for academic purposes (Figure 1).

Residents preferred to communicate mostly with mail groups, whatsapp, telegram and instagram for academic communication (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Social Media Communication Preferences of Public Health Residents for Academic Purposes

Youtube, researchgate, linkedin and academia.edu  were excluded for academic communication preferences. Because, they were not suitable for mutual and group communication. Few residents chose medscape and discord under the title of “others” for both in Figure 1 and 2.

It could be concluded that mail groups and whatsapp are trending media. In public health conference , we discussed that whatsapp was not enough, maybe it would be better to change it to telegram according to survey results. Instagram was a surprise in this survey. Perhaps, it might have a function in the future in terms of the public health.

Ferhat Yildiz
MD, Representative of Residents, HASUDER, Turkey

Aydin Adnan Menderes University, School of Medicine

Department of Public Health

Merhaba (Hello)!

References and Social Media resources used

  1. Facebook, www.facebook.com (Accessed in 19th Nov 2018)
  2. Twitter, www.twitter.com (Accessed in 19th Nov 2018)
  3. Instagram, www.instagram.com (Accessed in 19th Nov 2018)
  4. Youtube, www.youtube.com (Accessed in 19th Nov 2018)
  5. Linkedin, www.linkedin.com (Accessed in 19th Nov 2018)
  6. Researchgate, www.researchgate.net (Accessed in 19th Nov 2018)
  7. Academia.edu, www.academia.edu (Accessed in 19th Nov 2018)
  8. Google groups, https://groups.google.com/forum/#!overview (Accessed in 19th Nov 2018)
  9. Whatsapp, www.whatsapp.com (Accessed in 19th Nov 2018)
  10. Telegram, https://telegram.org (Accessed in 19th Nov 2018)
  11. Medscape, www.medscape.com (Accessed in 19th Nov 2018)
  12. Discord, https://discordapp.com (Accessed in 19th Nov 2018)