Prof. Pavel Kolář, head of the Department of Rehabilitation and Physical Education Medicine of the Second Faculty of Medicine and Motol University Hospital and vice-dean for Development.
Photography: Michal Hladík (Second Faculty of Medicine).
Updated version. The Motol Campus takes clearer shape: scientific research, modern lecture halls and simulation medicine. Prof. Pavel Kolář, head of the Department of Rehabilitation and Physical Education Medicine of the Second Faculty of Medicine and Motol University Hospital and vice-dean for Development, outlines the plans in this interview.
Currently, at what stage of development is the construction of the new faculty building in Motol?
We are now finalising the selection of the construction contractor. The archaeological survey is being completed and the overall financing of the construction, with the participation of the university and our faculty, is being resolved. Everything has to be approved by the advisory boards and academic senates.
What do you expect the new building, which we call the Motol Campus, to bring to the Faculty?
The Motol Campus should become the heart of the Second Faculty of Medicine, which will be integrated into one of the largest and most modern hospitals in Europe. Together with the Plzeňská Campus and the hospital’s facilities, it should create modern and fully developed conditions not only for undergraduate medical education, but also for training physiotherapists, clinical laboratory technicians, nurses and the entire postgraduate education, including many PhD students.
What are you most looking forward to at the Motol Campus?
I am definitely looking forward to improved conditions and facilities for clinical teaching. I will also feel a great sense of relief once the project is successfully accomplished. The preparation of the construction, including the acquisition and administration of the land on the hospital premises, has been underway for several years. It involves many complications and is very demanding in terms of organisation and administration. If everything is handled successfully, I look forward to being relieved of this burden with a good feeling of a job well done.
In the autumn of 2022, the last part of the 4th stage of the construction on Plzeňská Street was inaugurated, and at the same time, the first steps towards constructing a multifunctional building on the hospital site began. What are the plans for the future?
The building on Plzeňská Street is designed for teaching theoretical and preclinical disciplines. This means that the education facilities there are intended mainly for students in the first three years. A new animal facility was also built for research purposes, and we have a lecture hall that can accommodate an entire year group. The faculty has therefore completed new facilities of its own which we lacked for this phase of education. However, the situation is worse for teaching clinical disciplines and facilities for doctoral studies. Within the hospital, the faculty operates only in rented premises. We lack our own offices for the dean’s office, space for simulation teaching, classrooms for clinical teaching, and our own lecture halls. Even though we managed to secure funding and, together with the hospital, refurbished the lecture halls, they still belong to the hospital and we are only renting them. Many clinics also teach in premises where classes should not properly take place because they are designed for other purposes.
The Motol Campus should become the heart of the Second Faculty of Medicine, which will be integrated into one of the largest and most modern hospitals in Europe.
What will students and faculty staff find in the multifunctional building?
Modern lecture halls for students in their 4th to 6th year of study, as well as facilities for teaching bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physiotherapy, will be built here. The faculty also lacks its own space both for science and postgraduate students and their projects. Therefore, there will be laboratories and spaces for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in simulation medicine. Additionally, there will also be administrative facilities for the dean’s office.
What is the estimated timeline for the move of the dean's office, laboratories, simulation medicine, and lecture halls?
No later than 2027. However, we still have a number of hurdles to overcome. We all know what the economic situation is at present. Funding for the building was set in 2019, and high inflation is making it more expensive. We also have to consider future operating costs. There are two parts to the construction project: the demolition work and the actual construction of the building, which should begin this autumn.
What will the multifunctional centre look like? Are there any interesting architectural solutions?
The most important aspect for us is low energy consumption. The external appearance was shaped by the surroundings, in order for the building to fit in with the architectural concept of the hospital, which is set to change significantly in the future, especially in the southern part.
The Motol Campus will house, among other facilities, classrooms focused on simulation medicine, such as an operating room. Do you perceive this as a major trend? Can medical education nowadays actually do without simulations?
Simulation is a supplement to teaching, it is not and must not be its dominant element. The main focus remains on communication and working with real patients. This in turn is a huge advantage of our faculty, as it can use the hospital’s facilities and its wide possibilities for teaching medics, nurses, and physiotherapists. They get a feel for examination and therapeutic procedures, they see real medicine. Had I just started my studies, I might have been reassured by the thought of seeing a virtual autopsy table first, rather than a real person. But a medic needs to be in touch with real emergency medicine and the cases they see in individual clinics. Simulation can't replace that.
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