Meeting of 15 Pilot Primary Care Teams: Outcomes of the Strategic Training in Ivano-Frankivsk

On 3–5 December, Ivano-Frankivsk hosted a meeting of teams from 15 pilot primary health care facilities within the framework of the “Advanced Nurse Practitioner in the Primary Health Care” project. The event brought together managers, doctors, and nurses for joint strategic planning, a discussion of the year’s results, and the definition of next steps for development.

The central event of the meeting was a two-day training session led by Matviy Khrenov, co-founder of the Ukrainian Healthcare Centre (UHC), devoted to six skills of strategic thinking. Participants worked on handling uncertainty, breaking down complex processes into their components, and making well-grounded management decisions.

Special attention during the programme was given to modern tools and evidence-based medicine:

• Vitalii Zaiets (Ukrainian-Swiss Project “Medical Education Development”) and Maryna Opalenko (Primary Healthcare Centre of Palanka Village Council) presented “Artificial Intelligence in Primary Care: WONCA Experience and First Steps of Implementation in Ukrainian Practice,” outlining the possibilities of using AI as an assistant in the work of nurses and primary care teams.
• Tetiana Chernysh (Head of the Project Implementation Office of the Ukrainian-Swiss Project “Medical Education Development”), in her presentation “Evidence-Based Decisions: Where to Look for Reliable Sources and How to Integrate Them into the Work of the Primary Care Team,” focused on practical mechanisms for using evidence-based information in management and clinical decisions.

Participants also held a frank conversation about the outcomes of the project’s implementation over the past year, discussed the results of research and evaluation, and, during the final session, jointly outlined priorities for the next stage.

An important part of the meeting was the personal stories shared by nurses themselves about the changes they had undergone during the project — from recognising their own achievements to reconsidering themselves as managers. The meeting concluded with joint planning and an exchange of experience between the teams of partner facilities.