Main thoughts from the Autumn School of Medical Education 2024

The largest educational event in the country for medical educators took place in Uzhhorod from October 9 to 12. Our project organized the event in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Uzhhorod National University. 150 professionals, like-minded people, medical educators, and leading healthcare experts gathered to discuss key education and healthcare structure issues. 7 plenary sessions, 8 workshops, 4 panel discussions, a presentation of research results, and even a podcast.

“It’s a pity that these 4 days went by so quickly,” was a rightful comment in the feedback form, and these are the words that can summarize the School. We invite you to recall the best moments with us.

The first day began with a welcome speech to the participants of the Autumn School. Tetiana Chernysh, Head of the Project Office of the Ukrainian-Swiss Medical Education Development Project, emphasized that the community of medical educators has become more formed, open and thirsty for knowledge. Olena Nykonchuk, Deputy Head of the Department – Head of the Department for Coordination of Medical Personnel of the Department of Medical Personnel, Education and Science of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, noted the importance of exchanging views. Volodymyr Smolanka, MD, PhD, Professor, Honored Doctor of Ukraine, Rector of Uzhhorod National University, emphasized that holding educational events is essential amid the full-scale war Russia waged against Ukraine.

After the opening ceremony, we started working according to the schedule. We broadcast some of the panel discussions and speakers’ speeches live, and those are available via our YouTube channel.

One of the first to hold a plenary session and comprehensively cover the topic of “Medical Education Systems” was the unsurpassed Janet Grant, Professor of Medical Education, Advisor to the World Federation for Medical Education, Academic Director of CenMEDIC.

Afterwards, the participants split up to work in small groups at practical workshops:

• Workshop #1 was devoted to teaching skills and was conducted by Nataliia Starynska and Olha Bershadska;

• Workshop #2 — Conducting research by medical students and professionals by Wim Groot;

• Workshop #3 — Leadership in a Medical University by Matviy Khrenov;

• Workshop #4 on Mentoring in Medical Education with Yuliia Shuklina, Oleksiy Rykov.

The training day concluded with a panel discussion on “Didactic Methods in Medical Education” with Wim Groot, Olha Bershadska, and Janet Grant. The discussion was moderated by Nataliia Starynska, an experienced teacher trainer and head of the NGO “Vysche”.

After a busy day, the participants, speakers, and organizers went on a quest around Uzhhorod.

The second day included an interesting discussion, speeches by Janet Grant and Wim Groot, and the recording of the podcast “Tangible Med Education. Season 3: Reading Room”.

School participants and online guests joined the plenary sessions by our wonderful international guests — Wim Groot and Janet Grant. Mr Groot spoke about the quality assurance process in higher education, and Janet’s presentation was titled “Revisiting the Curriculum”, where she shared tips to upgrade curricula at your school.

Next, there was a panel discussion “Bridge between medical education and practice”, where they discussed what values medical universities should profess; the role of practitioners in building such bridges; the state of medical management in the country and communication and cooperation between medical universities and hospitals.

The experts of the discussion were Olena Ihnashchuk, Vadym Vus, Ivan Chernenko, Matviy Khrenov, Volodymyr Khodorovskyi, Iryna Leshchyna, and moderated by Ihor Zastavnyi.

At the end of the School, we recorded an exclusive episode of the podcast “Tangible Med Education. Season 3: Reading Room”, in which Matviy Khrenov talked to Ivan Chernenko about the book ‘Laughter at the End of the Tunnel’.

Listen to all episodes of the podcast on YouTube.

On the third day of the Autumn School, the participants listened to and talked to representatives of the Ministry of Health, the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance, and the Testing Center.

First, they had two panel discussions: “Medical Education in Ukraine: Challenges in Times of War” with Mladena Kachurets and Olena Nykonchuk (Ministry of Health of Ukraine), and ‘Quality in Education’ with Serhii Kalinichenko, Olena Yeremenko, Andriy Butenko, and Mladena Kachurets.

An important event was the presentation of the research results of the project on the assessment of the educational environment in undergraduate and postgraduate education (DREEM and PHEEM). The results were presented by the head of the project office of the Ukrainian-Swiss project “Medical Education Development” Tetiana Chernysh and the project’s medical education coordinator Olena Ihnashchuk.

“We have been conducting this study since the first year of the project’s existence because it is a monitoring study for us. We conducted the first study in 2019. Its results showed us the points of influence, that is, we identified the dimensions that the project could influence and improve the educational environment for intern students in Ukraine. Of course, we will not be able to improve the educational environment in every university, but we need to look at the dimensions that we can influence. Also, this study is important directly for higher education institutions, as it helps in decision-making at the institutional level,” said Tetiana Chernysh at the presentation.

Important to note that the research was conducted using the standardized questionnaires DREEM (The Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure) and PHEEM (The postgraduate hospital Educational Environment Measure), which are widely used in Europe to assess the educational environment. Seven higher education institutions participated in the study “Assessment of the Educational Environment of Students and Doctors and Nurses in Ukraine”. The study “Assessment of the Educational Environment of Doctors and Medical Interns in Ukraine” involved doctors and medical interns in the second year of training from four institutions.

Olena Ihnashchuk presented the results of the research and said, “As for the educational environment at the undergraduate level, the overall score was 124. The maximum score that institutions could receive as a result of the DREEM survey is 200 points. In 2019, the outcome was 117.”

Continuing the presentation, Tetiana and Olena presented the results for each dimension and told how students evaluate their teachers and the learning process, their academic success, the social component, and the atmosphere in the institutions. They also presented a similar study involving doctors and medical interns.

In addition, the School participants were invited to a secret panel dedicated to the work of medical school administrators. There was also a hugely important discussion on “Abuse in Higher Education Institutions” with the participation of Orest Suvalo, Olha Bershadstka, Anastasiia Khodan, and moderated by Ihor Zastavnyi.

The panelists began the discussion by defining the term abuse and sharing their own student experiences when they felt abused by their professors. In the course of the conversation, each of the participants expressed their opinion on the preconditions for violence and how it is perceived. The collective conclusion of the panel was that it is important not to taboo this topic and to explore it more deeply, including conducting a study.

Many people remembered the School for the speech of Mychailo Wynnyckyj, Deputy Minister of Education and Science, which opened up the final day. He spoke about specific steps in the transformation of the Ukrainian higher education system.

The sessions of project experts are also extremely valuable for us, as they help us implement project activities: Peter Suter, who spoke about his participation in the curriculum revision working group, and Renato Galeazzi, who discussed what constitutes good medical education.

We sincerely thank all the participants, our partners, and all the stakeholders for your contribution and support to the development of medical education in Ukraine. The success of the Autumn School of Medical Education was made possible by our joint work and synergy!