Tartu University Hospital

Studies and research
Tartu University Hospital is the reference institution for the studies, development and research work of Tartu University. In cooperation with the Medicine Faculty of Tartu University, the pre-graduate training of doctors and other medical staff and post-graduate in-service training takes place here, as well as medical research.
The doctors/lecturers employed by the hospital and doctoral candidates release nearly 100 publications every year in international magazines and more than 250 articles in the Estonian magazine Eesti Arst. The doctors in the hospital also publish more than 70 articles per year in different international magazines, of which more than 30 have been published in highly influential medicine and scientific journals.

Scientific events

The hospital's employees give more than 300 presentations at international scientific events and more than 400 speeches at Estonian scientific events per year. On average they organise approximately 40 international and nearly 100 Estonian scientific events per year.

Every spring the hospital organises a traditional hospital conference. The most important topics are discussed at these conferences, during which an annual award is given to distinguished doctors/professors for their life's work.

Clinical pharmaceutical studies

The hospital conducts more than 60 pharmaceutical studies per year. More than 200 doctors and nurses participate in them. This year nearly 30 new studies are to be conducted.

Scientific grants

Scientific grants give an overview of the active scientific work of the hospital. Every year 10-12 scientific grants are completed here and more than 40 grants are continued with nearly 100 doctors/lecturers and 20 nurses involved.

Training

The regular self-training of medical staff is very important for maintaining professional qualifications in terms of a rapidly developing working environment. On average, the 3500 employees of the hospital participate in more than 5000 internal or international training sessions. This represents nearly 65% of all employees and shows a constant increase in the number of participants.

Almost all nursing staff (99.6%) participate in training each year. In addition to this, approximately 40% of personal care staff are given the possibility of participating in various training sessions. The hospital favours the continuous self-training of its employees as much as possible.

In autumn 2004, the first e-course at the Training Centre was completed in the WebCT environment - "Medical errors and their prevention". Since January 2006 students have been able to participate in a new e-course, "Study of patients in clinical nursing". By the end of 2006, 66 nurses had successfully completed these e-courses.
In 2006, both e-courses were transferred to the new WebCT 6.0 environment. Five new e-courses are under development.