Science and Research

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Office of Biomedical Research

Office of Biomedical Researchis responsible for: monitoring relevant challenges in support of biomedically oriented research and development in Slovakia and the EU; coordinating the creation of research projects; finding suitable domestic and foreign partners for research and development projects in biomedical research area; coordinating research activities carried out in cooperation with contractual research partners; creating research teams within individual medical specializations and coordinating the preparation of their research plans; monitoring and supporting publications; supporting the creation of intellectual property and protecting intellectual property rights related to hospital’s research; presenting research and development results; preparing a long-term plan in the field of research and development activities in the hospital; cooperating with the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic and the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic in the area of research and development; collaborating with the national network for academic clinical research Slovacrin; organizing scientific and research events; monitoring implementation and supporting activities related to research and development in all clinical departments and paraclinic departments within the framework of biomedical research; obtaining information regarding announced project calls.

In 2020, FDR UGH Ethics Committee reviewed 29 new biomedical researches conducted at the hospital. Several internal academic research studies were launched this year with the support of national and international grants. The hospital also successfully participated in other scientific research studies at both national and international levels, which creates a precondition for increasing the quality of health care in the future by implementing new knowledge or treatments. Examples of scientific research studies carried out in 2020:

  1. a research project in the field of maxillofacial surgery supported by a grant from Bicon company (USA)
  2. an ongoing research study in the field of trauma surgery (“Influence of Erector Spinae Plane Block in Mini-invasive Spinal Surgery”) supported by a grant from the AO Spine Foundation (Switzerland),
  3. a rectal cancer research funded by the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic,
  4. a multicentre study called “Influence of Perioperative Opiate Analgesia on Circulating Tumour Cells in Colorectal Cancer” conducted in cooperation with the Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine at the Palacký University in Olomouc, funded by the Czech Health Research Council,
  5. numerous scientific research studies carried out within the Department of Hepatological and Gastroenterological Transplantation, such as Faecal Microbial Transplantation in Patients with Severe Alcoholic Hepatitis, Assessment of Functional Capability and a Diagnosis of Frailty in Patients with Advanced Chronic Liver Disease and Liver Transplantation, Analysis of Fatty Liver Disease in Patients After Liver Transplantation, Relapse of Alcohol Use After Liver Transplantation by Means of Biomarkers, and other.

In 2020, the field of research was also marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and therefore new challenges for the provision of health care were set in this area too. One of the affected research areas was telemedicine and biomonitoring. FDR UGH participated in the preparation of several projects of applied research in this field. In September 2020, the hospital started the implementation of the project “Diagnostic System of Clinical Status of Patients with COVID-19 and Other Related Symptoms” in partnership with the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava. The project was approved and funded by the Research and Development Agency.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the field of clinical trials as well. FDR UGH, as an endpoint hospital of type 3, coinvestigated several clinical trials within this focus area.

Further development of potential of applied research in the field of medicine and the provision of health care is provided by the cooperation with academic institutions of science and research, such as Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica (Faculty of Natural Sciences) and Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology).

In the field of healthcare, the issue of health literacy, prevention and personal responsibility for health came to the fore. In 2020, the research of FDR UGH in this area was supported by an institutional membership in EPMA (European Association for Predicative, Preventive and Personalised Medicine). The first results of the cooperation are published in the EPMA Journal (IF Scopus 7.7). FDR UGH also cooperated with the third sector in sociologically oriented projects focused on health literacy. One of them was the project “Patient’s library” with the civil society organization Slovenský pacient, implemented from November 2020 until December and funded by a grant from the Open Society Foundation.

Office of Clinical Trials

Office of Clinical Trials provides: a complex agenda related to clinical trials; cooperation with the clinical trial sponsors and other institutions that perform research and development (e.g., Slovacrin, Slovak Academy of Sciences, grant agencies, innovative pharmaceutical industry, Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic); search for domestic and foreign partners for research and development projects in the field of clinical trials; coordination of activities in the area of clinical trials based on the Good Clinical Practice (ICH E6) principles; coordination in the context of cooperation between the clinical trial sponsors, auditors, inspectors and responsible investigators; presentation of the obtained research and development results in accordance with the conditions of the contract and valid legal regulations; monitoring of the implementation and supporting of the research and development processes in all clinical departments and paraclinic departments within the clinical trial activities; collaboration and coordination with all clinical departments and paraclinic departments participating in the clinic monitoring; monitoring of the calls supporting the clinical trials in Slovakia and in the EU; communication and correspondence with domestic and foreign medical facilities; the administrative and organizational support of clinical trials.

FDRH remains active with regard to clinical drug trials and its long-term goal is extending the field of biomedical research. During the years the hospital successfully participated in several scientific research studies at both national and international level, which creates a precondition for increasing the quality of health care in the future by implementing new knowledge or treatments.

  • Research Projects/ Biomedical Clinical Research Studies

List of selected Biomedical Research Studies.

  • Publications

List of selected Research Papers/ Publications.

  • Ethics committee

The Commission is an independent professional and advisory body to the healthcare provider to assess the ethical issues arising in the provision of healthcare, including biomedical research.

The activities of the commission are regulated by the Statute of the Ethics Committee of the FNsP FDR.

The aim of the commission is primarily to protect the health and rights of patients and participants in clinical trials.

The EC activities are:

  • assessment of the ethical acceptability of clinical trials and other forms of biomedical research in accordance with relevant legislation,
  • issuing opinions on the acceptability of biomedical research, assessment of ethical issues arising in the provision of health care,
  • assessment of ethics in specific cases at the request of hospital management.
  • Scientific Information Department (medical library)

Selected Facts:

In 2020, the Scientific Information Department acquired 330 publications: 223 monographs and 80 periodicals. 33 monographs, 25 graduate theses and 13 different periodicals were obtained for free. 281 publications were discarded due to wear or loss.

In 2020, the Scientific Information Department was visited by 1,855 readers who borrowed 1,046 books and 337 journals for home reading and 819 books and 187 journals for reading in the study room. 1,164 publications were returned to the library after being borrowed. The Department staff provided 1,039 consultations in total.

The Scientific Information Department processed 86 requests for publications from other Slovak libraries through the interlibrary loan service and 16 requests for publications from European and overseas libraries through the international interlibrary loan service.

The Department has two databases of its own: BiblioMedica and Thieme collection. The first database is used for research in Czech medical literature, the second database, the only one in Slovakia, is a full-text journal database.

In 2020, the Department processed 80 retrospective bibliographic researches and subsequently provided full texts from its own database and from the databases of CVTISR and Springerlink researches providers, the official access to them being already granted. The year before last, 678 full texts were provided in this way.

The medical library procured an automated Tritius cataloguing system which is continuously updated.