«We have to do something!»

When the coronavirus began to spread in Switzerland, Nicola Rüegsegger and Pascal Wacker quickly realised: we have to do something! The two computer science students had almost completed their Bachelor’s degree, with hardly any lectures left. So they not only had the will to help, but also the time – and the know-how, since the two had founded external page a start-up company in 2018 that specialises in HR tech in the healthcare sector.

Both Rüegsegger and Wacker have followed an unusual path for computer science students at ETH Zurich: Wacker has worked in IT for many years following an apprenticeship as a mediamatician, while Rüegsegger has a medical degree. In other words, ideal qualifications for tackling the coronavirus crisis at the interface between technology and healthcare.

Professor Jörg Goldhahn of ETH Zurich introduced Rüegsegger and Wacker to the external page Students4Hospitals initiative, which was launched by ETH students to place students from all disciplines in temporary jobs in the healthcare system. Students4Hospitals needed help with the technical implementation of the platform. With the support of two of their fellow students, Raphael Koch and Florian Moser, Wacker and Rüegsegger designed the website in a very short time. They worked from home, since the Rocket Hub of the ETH Entrepreneur Club, where they normally conduct business, is closed like all ETH buildings.

“On Wednesday we contacted Jörg Goldhahn, on Thursday we had the first Zoom meeting with the Students4Hospitals team and on Monday the platform went live,” Rüegsegger recalls. “You never have enough time in web development as a rule, but I have never experienced such a mad sprint,” adds Wacker. The two consider it unlikely, however, that their studies will suffer as a result. Wacker just needs to complete a few subjects, while Rüegsegger only has his thesis to finish, which he paused at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis. “I expected that I would soon be needed in a hospital,” he explains.

A second platform for medical professionals

The work of the two computer science students wasn’t complete with Students4Hospitals, however. Their start-up company, Medison GmbH, operates a career platform for doctors, which means Rüegsegger and Wacker are well connected in the healthcare job market. The need for a central platform to facilitate the placement of medical professionals in hospitals quickly became apparent to them. Under the leadership of Jörg Goldhahn and in cooperation with various professional associations (including the Swiss Medical Association FMH), Medison developed the platform external page Care Now in a second sprint. “We were working continuously for about ten days,” Rüegsegger recalls. “I slept six hours a night and worked the rest of the time,” adds Wacker.

In record time, Care Now was up and running. Where Students4Hospitals places students as temporary help, Care Now meets the need for medical professionals, be they doctors, nurses or other healthcare providers such as physical therapists. Like with Students4Hospitals, hospitals and other healthcare facilities declare their needs on Care Now. Healthcare professionals also register on the platform. A team of ETH Zurich teaching assistants then allocates the helpers to the hospitals.

Within a very short time, around 1,000 healthcare professionals registered with Care Now, and a similar number of students registered with Students4Hospitals. So far, about 50 people from each platform have been deployed to healthcare facilities.

Working in non-profit mode

Rüegsegger himself has not had to return to his work as a doctor yet. “The current situation in Switzerland is very fortunate considering the circumstances,” he says, “and if the conditions should deteriorate, the two pools of helpers are ready to be deployed.”

Should it come to that, the two developers will have more work again. However, both are confident that, despite the double workload, they will be able to complete their Bachelor’s degree this year according to plan and within the permissible duration of their studies.

Whether the Students4Hospitals and Care Now platforms will continue to exist after the coronavirus crisis remains to be seen. “Medison will remain active in the healthcare labour market, as it has always been,” says Rüegsegger. “We have learned a lot from this and we have worked with new partners.” Wacker and Rüegsegger have not made any money from the two platforms – Medison has even taken over the costs of hosting Students4Hospitals and Care Now. “Turning a profit was not a priority for us. We temporarily put the start-up into non-profit mode right at the start of the crisis,” says Wacker.
Moving forward with computer science

After completing their Bachelor’s degrees, Wacker and Rüegsegger plan to focus on their company. “My passion is developing and programming systems,” says Wacker. “That’s why I intend to work for Medison full-time.” The trained mediamatician greatly appreciated his studies at ETH Zurich. “In an apprenticeship, they teach you how to do things,” he compares. “At ETH you focus more on the ‘why’, which I find extremely interesting.” Thanks to Wacker’s more than ten years of professional experience, practical subjects like networks and database systems were easier for him than for many of his fellow students. “In contrast, I had more difficulty in the foundational mathematics subjects,” he says.

Rüegsegger also plans to dedicate himself to the start-up after his graduation. He does not rule out a Master’s degree in a few years’ time. “The atmosphere at ETH is very welcoming, even if you come from a different educational background,” he says. He sees his future role as a coordinator at the interface between the worlds of computer science and medicine. “I decided to become a doctor because I wanted to help people,” he explains. “If I use technology as well, I have many more opportunities to do just that.”

This article was first published on 21 April 2020 in the Spotlight Stories of the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich.