Ukrainian-Swiss Project “Development of Medical Education”

The Ukrainian-Swiss project “Development of medical education” is implemented in Ukraine by the Swiss Institute of Tropical and Public Health (Swiss TPH) with the financial support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The key goal of the project is to improve the quality of health care in Ukraine by improving the system of medical education for representatives of primary care. The main result of the joint efforts of the project and its pilot higher education institution is a graduate who is a qualified specialist in their field, ready to respond patriotically, honestly and transparently to the modern challenges of the health care system and provide quality care, improving health of the Ukrainians. In cooperation with the project, we introduce and test new training programs and new teaching methods. Special attention is paid to teaching clinical courses to students of medical universities and nursing institutions and primary health care providers.

The skills and abilities of primary health care providers (family doctors, nurses) should be improved by perfecting medical education, in accordance with the reform priorities set by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. Within the framework of this direction, the Ukrainian-Swiss project “Development of medical education” supports the revision of the curriculum, which includes improving the teaching of clinical skills, the development of simulation training, the introduction of modern approaches to teaching, training management systems, and the development of scientific potential. Therefore, health care specialists will be adequately prepared to respond to the challenges and needs of Ukraine’s health care. Project interventions cover undergraduate and postgraduate levels of medical education, including continuing professional development (CPD).

In cooperation with the Ukrainian-Swiss project “Development of medical education”:

• English language courses have been implemented for the two academic years 2019-2020 and 2020-2021.
• The level of teaching skills has increased. In 2020, a series of training sessions on feedback, starting peer groups in medical education, was launched. Participation in the course “Teaching skills for male and female teachers of medical higher education institutions”. Participation in a creative workshop on writing the manual “Humanity and empathy in health care”.
• The online study tours was held in Ukraine for the administration and coordinators of higher education institutions to study the experience of foreign colleagues in building laboratories for practicing clinical skills and integrating simulation training into the educational process. Foreign experts contribute to the development of the competencies of educators in teaching simulation technologies, the updating of the curriculum and the development of educational materials for those clinical disciplines, the classes of which are held in the laboratories for practicing clinical skills.
• The Laboratory of Clinical Skills was created, where students, future family doctors, interns, practicing doctors, as well as nurses master their clinical skills. A Working Group on Competencies for Primary Care Providers was established to equip the Laboratory of Clinical Skills, as a review of competences is important for updating training programs and reviewing the division of responsibilities in primary care. The project provided support for training educators to develop scenarios for mastering practical skills and writing checklists. The next step was to compile a list of equipment for the simulation centre. The laboratory consists of three rooms: the first room is equipped with cameras, microphones, medical equipment and artificial body parts for practicing clinical skills that connect to a computer; in the second room, the coach and teacher manage the educational process; in the third room, a debriefing takes place, when students and the teacher watch the recorded video and check the performance of the tasks.
• The project on student space activation has been designed.
• The participation of the University team in the “Competition of research teams and ideas” has begun, the result of which will be a manuscript ready for publication in an international journal indexed by Scopus.
• Training on e-learning was conducted for representatives of pilot higher education institutions.