Healthcare Reinvented by Students
Twenty billion euros to invest in healthcare is always a huge responsibility, even more so in emergency situations like the one we are experiencing. This is the money provided by the Recovery Fund intended to change the face of the Italian health system, part of the national investment program within the Next Generation Eu. To manage them, in a hard-fought team competition,were the students of the Bachelor program in Business Administration and Management (CLEAM), as part of the course in Economics and Management of Companies and Public Administrations, led by Francesco Longo.
A hard-fought competition, which involved all eight classes in parallel: "First the competition took place within each class, from which the four top finishers were selected. Then the students chose the best one from each class", explains Francesco Longo. "The eight finalists were then examined by the instructors, who identified the three best projects". At this point, the competition crossed the boundaries of the University, because an external jury, made up of policy makers, that is, who will then have to use that money (Stefano Lorusso, technical secretariat of the Ministry of Health, Angelo Tanese, General Manager Asl Roma 1 , Marco Trivelli, general manager Asst Brianza, Celeste Condorelli, managing director Gemelli Molise), declared the winning group, composed of Ilaria Uras, Mattia Moretta, Alessia Thompson, Bernardo Uberto Stromberg Speranza, Cecilia Guelfi and Asya Peruzzo.
"Our project impressed the jury because we developed very concrete proposals", explains Ilaria Uras, "which start from a holistic vision that focuses on humans rather than pathologies and relies heavily on digitization to improve assistance to citizens". A meticulous task, which had as its starting point the real data made available to the students, but which the members of the winning team have enriched with other initiatives: "We interviewed prof. Alberto Zangrillo, from San Raffaele in Milan, who spoke to us about the need to create an integrated system", continues Ilaria Uras,"and prof. Andrea Urbani, Director General of Health Planning of the Ministry of Health, who will actually manage the money from the Recovery Fund, to find out what the real problems are. In general, this experience on real data allows us to apply what we learn in the classroom, but it is also a useful training ground for learning to work in a team, which we will have to do when we start our careers".
"Students in general find this type of activity much more stimulating", continues Francesco Longo, "compared to frontal teaching. Their commitment is greater and the results, in general, are excellent".
The award for the winning team is an engaging one, and relevant to the theme: "It is an experience at the Institute for the Blind, a dinner in the dark in which the kids will concretely experience what it means to have this condition. An appropriate and educational prize", concludes Longo.