Prof. Sven Benson - Head of the Institute for Didactics in Medicine, University Hospital Essen

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How do I share bad news with a patient? How can I support the person and their relatives emotionally by talking to them, accompany them in therapy decisions and at the same time increase the effectiveness of therapies? Prof. Sven Benson supports future doctors in preparing themselves optimally for their future tasks.

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Prof. Sven Benson is head of the Institute for Didactics in Medicine, University Hospital Essen

Communication matters.

Prof. Sven Benson, Head of the Institute for Didactics in Medicine at the University Hospital Essen and Project Leader in the Collaborative Research Centre Treatment Expectation

I recently took up a professorship and simultaneously became Head of the Institute for Didactics in Medicine at the Medical Faculty of the University of Duisburg-Essen. The task of this newly founded institute is to further develop the education and teaching offered to our medical students and thus to support the students in preparing themselves optimally for their future tasks as doctors.

In addition to extensive specialist knowledge, various competences are needed for future medical work: How can I keep my specialist knowledge up to date and carry out scientifically successful work, how can I work together in a team with other professional groups in a goal-oriented way, and above all, how can I shape conversations with patients and their relatives in the best possible way?

In recent years, we’ve become much more aware of the special importance of how medics communicate with their patients: How do I get all the relevant information to make a diagnosis? How do I tell patients bad news? How can I emotionally support patients and their relatives through conversation, accompany them in making therapy decisions and at the same time increase the effectiveness of treatments?

During my time as a nurse, I frequently observed how important and, in the truest sense, effective conversations with patients are - and also how sometimes a passing remark can be damaging. I’m therefore thrilled that these observations were later brought into line with scientific findings from placebo and nocebo research - and that I myself am not only allowed to do research in this exciting field, but am able to directly introduce these discoveries into the training and further education of doctors.

After nursing school, I studied psychology at the University of Trier while continuing to work in nursing. After completing my studies, I then took up a position as a research assistant at the Institute for Medical Psychology and Behavioural Immunology at the University Hospital Essen, where I completed my doctorate and habilitation, and worked as an Associate Professor of Medical Psychology in research and teaching. At the end of 2021, I took up a Professorship for Didactics in Medicine in Essen, and in 2022, I completed a part-time Master’s degree in Medical Education at the University of Heidelberg.

Prof. Sven Benson: the power of medical communication

What excites me about medical psychology and medical didactics
I’ve been interested in psychology ever since I was at school. I wanted to understand what influences our experiences and behaviour and what role our environment plays in this. It was rather by a happy coincidence that I first entered the nursing profession, where I was also impressed to observe how strongly health and illness are linked to psychological factors. Accordingly, during my psychology studies, I was particularly fascinated by biological psychology, which deals with the interaction between psychological and biological processes and the question of how the brain and the body work together. That's why I was particularly happy to find the perfect scientific environment for me at the Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioural Immunology, where these questions are researched.

Our work there focuses on the question of how the central nervous system and the immune system influence each other – why, for example, we feel worse and behave differently when our immune system is activated during an infection. Another exciting question is whether such processes and the resulting inflammation-related disease symptoms can be influenced by psychological interventions.

In addition to research, I have always really enjoyed teaching, i.e. in the education of medical students and other medical professional groups. The question of how to make teaching as motivating, exciting and productive as possible for the learners became increasingly important to me, thus cementing my interest in medical didactics.

Why I find placebo research so fascinating
Placebo research is fascinating to me because it combines many of my interests: It is a perfect and extremely clear example of how psychological and biological processes intertwine and influence each other. Expectations and past experiences, conversations and empathic interaction trigger objectifiable neurobiological processes, which in turn have an impact on the perception and intensity of symptoms and can even influence the effects of medications and medical interventions.

This is not only exciting as a research topic but is also hugely important for the education and training of doctors and employees in the healthcare system. Because through our communication we can, in fact, support the effectiveness of many therapies and improve patients’ well-being. This is an important future topic for teaching.

What brings me joy in life
In my professional life, I particularly enjoy working with other people. This can happen in lots of different ways: in exchanges with colleagues, when we develop ideas for new studies and consider how we can implement them practically, when we discuss and classify results together or work on publications.

  • In a joint team effort, when people with very different professional backgrounds and different tasks work together, all with strong motivation.
  • With other teachers, when considering how we can further develop the curriculum for our students, and, very importantly, with students, who often ask the best questions and help us to challenge our own thinking and knowledge anew.

Sport and exercise play a big role in my free time, including swimming, cycling with friends and long walks in the woods with our giant schnauzer.