Final Meeting of the Working Group on the “SAFEMED+” Project Implementation Was Held

The final reporting dissemination meeting of partner universities representatives, which are participants in the international grant project “SAFEMED+” of the Erasmus+ KA2 СВНЕ program, took place on October 12-14, 2023 in Tbilisi (Georgia). Ternopil National Medical University was represented by the coordinators of the “SAFEMED+” project Natalia Lisnychuk and Tetiana Kovalchuk, as well as members of the project’s working group Natalia Bilkevych and Nadia Pasiaka.

Tetiana Kovalchuk, Natalia Lisnychuk, Iya Avaliani, Natalia Bilkevych and Nadia Pasiaka during a working meeting at the Petre Shotadze Tbilisi Medical Academy.

The first day of work of the project consortium took place at Petre Shotadze Tbilisi Medical Academy. Meetings were organized in a hybrid format, which enabled a significant number of participants who were unable to attend the event to join it online.

Rector of Tbilisi Medical Academy Irene Shotadze congratulates the participants of the final meeting.

The representatives of the Ministry of Health of Georgia and rectors of all universities participating in the project made a welcome speech. In his speech, the Rector of I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, Professor Mykhaylo Korda, emphasized the significant contribution of the “SAFEMED+” project to the development of the material facilities of TNMU, the methodological base for conducting the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) and the training of the teaching staff, which made it possible to conduct changes in curricula and bringing simulation training and the methodology of OSCE in our university closer to world standards.

The Rector of I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, Professor Mykhaylo Korda, addressed the meeting participants.

During the meetings, reports from representatives of each partner university were delivered and approved regarding the results obtained and their implementation in the teaching process, qualitative and quantitative indicators of the project’s impact at the university level, conducted and planned dissemination activities.

Traditionally, each participating university of “SAFEMED+” presented its achievements within the framework of the project and shared news about the activities carried out since the previous meeting in Vilnius in May this year. It should be noted that, despite the summer period, activities within the framework of the project did not stop, in particular, members of TNMU continued to train the teaching staff of the university according to international standards for conducting OSCE, worked on the final version of the project’s printed materials.

Natalia Bilkevych presents the main results of the implementation of the SAFEMED+ project at TNMU.

Representatives of each higher education institution also reported on the implementation of the achievements in the educational process, obtained during the implementation of the project.

The participants of the event listened to the report of the financial department of the beneficiary university of Petre Shotadze Tbilisi Medical Academy regarding the proper use of the EU funds allocated for the implementation of the project by the participating universities.

Ternopil National Medical University was able to purchase the latest simulation equipment, computer equipment and software, which is very important in wartime, thanks to the SAFEMED+ grant funds. This shows that Ukrainian universities are looking for all kinds of opportunities for full-time work and development.

The main coordinator of the SAFEMED+ project, Professor Iya Avaliani, presented the printed English version of the OSCE organization manual “The role of OSCE and the Clinical Line in the acquisition of clinical competences by medical students”, created by the consortium participants. This book absorbed the leading experience of European countries in conducting OSCE, at the same time, writing this book gave extremely valuable experience to the project participants from Ukraine, Armenia and Georgia regarding the practical implementation of the theoretical knowledge gained in the project.

The book will be translated into all languages of the participating countries of the “SAFEMED+” project and will be a very useful source of information for employees of higher medical institutions of these countries when conducting this exam. In addition to this manual, project participants analyzed the quality of other methodological materials for students created by consortium members, in particular, posters that will be used in the educational process.

The participants of the meeting got acquainted with the work and equipment of the educational facilities of Petre Shotadze Tbilisi Medical Academy and had the opportunity to communicate with teachers and students.

The following days they worked at Tbilisi State Medical University. Project participants got acquainted with the capabilities and work of the university’s simulation centre.

Acquaintance with the capabilities of the Clinical Skills Centre of Tbilisi State Medical University.

Director of the Centre, Irma Manjavidze, talks about the peculiarities of the work and conduction of OSCE at Tbilisi State Medical University.

As part of the working session “Sustainability and Dissemination of the SAFEMED+ Project”, they discussed ways to disseminate the results and plans for the future. At the same time, all those present emphasized that one of the most significant results of “SAFEMED+” is the creation of a team of like-minded people who plan further cooperation with the aim of improving simulation training in their universities and spreading the acquired experience and knowledge to other medical educational institutions of their countries. The need to be in touch will be ensured by creating a “SAFEMED+” site on the Erasmus+ program portal and by holding annual online conferences.

Analysis of project performance. Project coordinator Akaki Sepashvili’s report.

So, the work does not stop! Each university, including TNMU, still has many plans to implement the results of the project and is going to further cooperate with members of the “SAFEMED+” team.

The offline format of the meetings of the consortium members, which became possible after the end of the COVID-19 epidemic, optimized networking and gave an opportunity to get acquainted with the cultures of the countries that alternately hosted the participants of the consortium meetings, and this became another, no less important than the others, positive result of the project . We thank the host party for the hospitable reception and the opportunity to get to know the wonderful country, Georgia, and for the comprehensive support.