THE HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NATIONAL INSTITUTION OF MEDICAL POSTGRADUATE AND LIFELONG EDUCATION OF UKRAINE

Abstract

Background. There is no generally accepted approach to continuing medical education today in Europe, World Health Organization (WHO) experts note, but there is general agreement that the medical services quality directly depends on the constant support of physicians in their competencies during their professional continuous improvement and assessment process. It is emphasized that it is important to ensure (and improve) the quality and requirements for the academic level of educational services or training programs providers, on the basis of which doctors coordinate their own educational plans. The most important precondition for ensuring the obligation of continuous professional development is the creation of a unified system of service providers and programs accreditation, as well as the «collective responsibility» of all participants in the medical training system. The purpose of the study. To investigate the postgraduate continuing education system of Ukraine a development on the Shupyk National Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education (NMAPE) an example as leading national higher educational institution of Ukraine. Materials and methods. Archival materials. During the study we used the general philosophical (universal) method, historical and logical methods. Results and discussion. According to the World Federation of Medical Education (WFME) definition, postgraduate medical education is the phase of medical training during which physicians gain experience after a basic medical qualification obtaining. This education phase is carried out in accordance with specific rules and instructions. The postgraduate medical education includes for official registration training, professional training, specialization and narrow specialization, as well as other formalized training programs appropriate to the performance of certain expert functions. The postgraduate education is part of the continuum of study in medicine, also included in continuing medical education or continuing professional development. Сontinuing professional development refers to the period of education and training of physicians, which begins after the basic medical education completion and postgraduate training, and continues thereafter throughout the professional life of each physician, according to the definition of the WFME. The modern medicine improvement is currently being carried out at an extremely rapid pace, respectively, and physicians’ skills and knowledge are becoming obsolete rapidly. The article traces the introduction of physicians’ postgraduate training in Ukraine on the Shupyk NMAPE example. Conclusions. The introduction of physicians’ postgraduate training in Ukraine is traced on the 100-year activity of the Shupyk NMAPE example, and it allows to state that the leading Ukrainian center became an example for imitation and formation of a model of activity on educational and methodical work in the field of physicians’ and pharmacists’ postgraduate education on the basis of combination of education, science, medical practice and innovations and maintenance of integration into the international scientific and educational space.