Dana Cup seeks Medical Students

 Football is a contact sport. Therefore, players might hurt themselves while tackling, heading or simply by pushing themselves too hard in order to win at Dana Cup.

A professional medical tent staffed by trained doctors and nurses, student nurses and medical students is part of Dana Cup's renowned quality. In the MASH tent players will get a quick medical assessment of the injury and whether it is necessary to send them to radiography or further examination at Vendsyssel Hospital in Hjørring. In this way, the huge football tournament burdens the hospital as little as possible and, at the same time, student nurses and medical students get important clinical experience, which they can use in their continuing education.

'However, we would like more medical students to volunteer,' says general manager of Dana Cup's health department, nurse Jette Nordberg, who had expected that the establishment of the Faculty of Medicine at Aalborg University would have led to an increase in medical students.

'But we only have two medical students from Aalborg University this year,' explains Michael Bang, who will graduate in a year. He is from Hjørring and, of course, he knew Dana Cup, so he already volunteered last year.

'However, one of the problems is that students do not know Dana Cup. In Aarhus there is more focus on sports medicine and, consequently, it is natural for students to gain experience at Dana Cup, plus teachers in Aarhus make good publicity for the tournament.

'I think that Aalborg needs to focus on sports medicine and then Dana Cup must intensify marketing to the students, for instance, by including the secretaries, who have direct contact with the students.

'I think that is great to come to Dana Cup as a medical student. We get the opportunity to see some of it all, from rupture to fractured skull. There is always something relevant to do. Besides we have a great community in the MASH tent, where we also enjoy ourselves when not working,' Michael Bang smiles.