In October, Hippocrates prizes, which highlight innovative projects in the field of health, were awarded to É-LABO and Cœurs en Visite, designed by two members of the University of Montreal. They are respectively winners of the Innovation Prize – Improvement of the user experience and the Next-Generation Innovation Prize – Emerging Project. These awards, presented each year, recognize initiatives that bring real added value to patient care and the work of medical staff.
É-LABO
Eric Racine
Credit: Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal
É-LABO, an initiative of the Pragmatic Health Ethics Research Unit, affiliated with the Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM) and set up by Eric Racine, defines itself as a living ethics laboratory.
Full professor in the Department of Medicine and the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at UdeM, Eric Racine is a renowned researcher in the field of bioethics. He is the author of the works Pragmatic Neuroethics: Improving Treatment and Understanding of the Mind-Brain, published by MIT Press, and The Theory of Deliberative Wisdom, which will be published by the same publisher in 2025. He is also director of the Research Unit in Pragmatic Health Ethics and holder of the Chair in Living Ethics at the IRCM.
The main objective of the researcher’s project is to democratize ethics, more particularly in the health sector, by meeting the needs for ethics training and support in care and service programs. The laboratory has worked on better management of psychological distress associated with complex chronic illnesses and rare diseases. He designed a preparatory form for medical appointments, allowing for more comprehensive patient care, and a resource guide intended for clinical staff.
Visiting hearts
Othmane Zekraoui
Credit: Courtesy
The idea for Visiting Hearts took shape during a weekly activity of medical students: visiting patients in hospitals. Many of the patients showed a radiant smile when welcoming visitors, especially long-term hospitalized people who were suffering from isolation. This is how Othmane Zekraoui, a second-year medical student with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences, launched the project.
Several organizations were mobilized: the University of Montreal Hospital Center, the CHU Sainte-Justine and the Integrated University Health and Social Services Center of the South-Central Island of Montreal, an establishment that brings together a plurality of hospitals, residential and long-term care centers and rehabilitation centers.
Students from various UdeM programs are paired with patients to whom they offer companionship. Today, there are more than 60 people supporting the cause and nearly half a thousand patients have benefited from this support. Soon, Visiting Hearts will expand outside of Montreal and open its doors to the student community of other educational institutions such as McGill University, Université Laval, Université de Sherbrooke and Collège Jean -de-Brébeuf.
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