Cancer Research in Switzerland - Krebsliga Schweiz

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area of health services research. 1 This is mostly due
to the fact that with the health system organized by
the cantons, making it difficult to track patients’
paths, there are definite limitations to conducting
this kind of research in Switzerland. Countries with
national health systems are much more active in such
areas of research.
Regarding patient groups, the research activities on
patients diagnosed with cancer continue to be the
most frequent. This accords only in part with the international
trend. In recent years, other countries
have put much more emphasis on integrating patient
groups with cardiovascular disease and pulmonary
disease, and research interest has also focused on
neurological diseases and especially dementia.
Based on the World Health Organization’s definition
of palliative care [3] it follows that palliative care research
should not be restricted to medical issues but
should instead include research topics from other
areas, such as ethics, sociology, and economics. But
the non-medical area has been underrepresented in
the research up to now. However, there is hope that
this will change through the National Research Programme
“End of Life” (NRP 67), which was launched
in 2011 and covers a wide range of topics.
Attractiveness of palliative care research,
1 Health services research is a research area within health care system research at the microlevel of
the health care system, in particular hospitals, doctors’ practices, or specific technologies in the health
system. The subject of health services research is sickness and wellness services. Other factors, such
as the intermediary institutions (health insurance companies, medical associations, etc.) and the national
health policy that shapes services in the long term are not the direct subjects of research. But they
are taken into consideration in the scientific studies as framework conditions of certain health services.
especially for junior scientists
In the field of palliative care, there is a demand for
research projects that are highly practice-oriented
and need-oriented. Researchers are supposed to give
greater heed to the soft voice of the seriously ill and
dying and their caregivers. The idea of bottom-up or
grassroots research impresses people, but it is not
usually feasible in practice. Due to a lack of time and
a lack of research resources, specialists working in
clinical practice are often hardly in a position to submit
research proposals that have a chance of being
approved for a grant and to conduct research. Partners
in academia as “engines” are urgently needed
here and could, at least theoretically, join with specialists
to become successful duos of practical orientation
and academic competency and to be brilliant
in a joint effort. With regard to these prospects,
Switzerland has definitely fallen behind in international
comparison. So far, there has been only one
single chair in palliative care at the universities (an
endowed chair at the University of Lausanne), and
for years, no one could be appointed to it. At present,
no further professorships are foreseen. At the
universities of applied sciences, too, there are no
specialized institutes or specialists for research in
palliative care focusing on research topics in this
field. In the professional curricula, in particular in
medicine and nursing, there are still no specialized
programmes leading to nationally recognized titles.
But in the end, this type of specialized postgraduate