Sans possible, le désirable n’est qu’un rêve… François Jacob, Nobel Prize for Medicine
In illustrating the ENJOY Med (National Encounter of Young Medicine Students) chapter with the above quotation, one may get the impression that creativity is born out of ideas, and that from creativity springs the desire to make an initiative that is yet to be discovered possible.

It was exactly like this that ENJOY Med was born. It started out being created as a common idea among colleagues, with the aim of providing the medicine and health sciences students with an event in which there would be the establishing of a bridge between undergraduate teaching of medicine, health sciences and scientific research (which is increasingly preponderant in the academic career of the young doctor). It was then that the encounter started being outlined.

The great odyssey of ENJOY Med was born a year ago, when the idea came up in a conversation among medicine colleagues. At the time the importance of creating an event at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL) was discussed, being an event in which it was possible to show a part of the clinical learning that is characteristic to the course and also the research aspects associated to it.

Bearing in mind that at the time there were already some established encounters for students, we did not wish to create just another one. Instead the aim was to innovate and promote an encounter that would present something new and dynamic. It was in this line of thought that the session called I Choose, was started, which has been so characteristic of ENJOY Med.

This activity allowed a previous choosing of subjects for debate, presentation of scientific works and workshops, according to each participant’s preferences, with the final aim of the congress being participation by the students in a session for each modality. In this way it was possible to have a rotational system and a more varied appreciation of the subjects debated, which added a dynamic to the atmosphere and spirit of the encounter.

However up until the final opening of the event, on the 7th and 8th of November the ENJOY group was growing and becoming consolidated, giving rise to a cohesive group effort divided into three main modules: oncobiology, clinical medicine and neurosciences.

In each of them there was concern to coordinate an opening and closing session that presented the life history of an illustrious guest in the field. The contact we wished for between the speakers and the participants was based on interaction and communication, which these things always being linked to a period of questions and answers.

In relation to the workshops planned for the event, it was necessary to think about practical areas that would suit each module, and we managed to present several different activities in the scope of practical and theoretical-practical knowledge. In addition, we thought it was important to implement the manner of presentation of the works, because it is in this area that one can assess the scientific potential of the young students, as well as their initiative and pro-activity in this field of research.

Assessing quality and capacity to present scientific projects is a valuable tool in the development of our curriculum both on the academic and social level. Bringing all of these sessions together made ENJOY Med a pioneering, interesting and dynamic encounter of students.

In the middle of so much backstage work preparing sessions, compiling all the material to be supplied and arranging the coffee breaks, the team effort was something that made all the difference. Throughout the congress there was a clear spirit of helping each other and comradeship, which are vital to good working and maintenance.

After all, in this type of events a point that has to be mentioned is the group’s flexibility to correspond to the needs both of the participants and the speakers, and in general this was achieved. Nevertheless, we are aware that this first edition of ENJOY Med did not just have positive aspects, but some less good points, which we have tried to assess through satisfaction questionnaires carried out by an external entity. This latter entity was an external evaluation committee, the purpose of which was to have a more precise orientation in the managing of a future edition of ENJOY Med, pointing out all the parameters to be perfected and some aspects to be improved within the organisation.

We thus hope that the main message from the encounter was transmitted, with this being a demonstration of the importance of sharing knowledge, in a student context and one of scientific research and where they intersect.

In short, the motivation necessary for participating in the student encounter ended up being its byword and so ENJOY Med, ENJOY it!

Miguel Vieira Martins
ENJOY Med Organising Committee | 5th Year MIM
Enjoymed.geral@gmail.com