How the First School of Digitalization of Medical Education Took Place

On January 23-24, 2025, the Ukrainian-Swiss project “Medical Education Development” held the School of Digitalization of Medical Education. The goal of the event was to discuss the challenges of digital transformation with representatives of higher medical education institutions and get inspired by successful cases from colleagues who have already been exploring effective and engaging digital solutions for their institutions.

Today, it is no longer enough to simply teach students. It is crucial to stay ahead, think proactively, and build the educational process by integrating modern digital technologies. Digitalization of education is not just about technology itself but about effective solutions that enable new approaches to learning.

The main idea of the School of Digitalization of Medical Education was to create a platform for experience exchange and the development of new ideas and approaches in the digitalization processes of higher education institutions in the healthcare sector of Ukraine. We aimed to showcase how modern digital technologies are integrated into the educational process of universities implementing medical education programs.

Serhii Uhobov, head of the Department of medical personnel, education, and science of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, attended the event. He spoke about the implementation progress of electronic residency distribution, how it was done before, and the challenges the Ministry of Health faced in developing this innovation. He also briefly demonstrated the system interface and the user cabinet view.

Opening of the School and Serhii Uhobov’s Speech

During the event, we shared our plans for expanding the digitalization project. Additionally, in the format of a world café discussion, “Challenges of Digital Transformation in Higher Education,” we refined the request for what higher medical education institutions need and where attention and resources should be directed. This discussion was moderated by Nataliia Starynska, a teaching excellence trainer, head of the NGO “Higher,” facilitator, and lecturer at kmbs.

The program also included a block with successful cases from higher education institutions. Representatives of four universities presented interesting digital solutions they implement at their institutions. For example, Inna Kucherenko from Bogomolets National Medical University talked about the Digital Competency School for university lecturers; Yevhen Palamarchuk and Olena Kovalenko from Vinnytsia National Technical University shared their experience in implementing an electronic educational ecosystem; representatives from Zaporizhzhia State Medical and Pharmaceutical University discussed the use of MS Teams in the educational process; and representatives from Bukovinian State Medical University presented the “UkraineDigiTrans” project.

One of the important topics covered at the School was the development of soft skills. Although digital solutions implementation is often associated with hard skills, event organizers emphasized that soft skills are equally important for project management, team motivation, stakeholder interaction, and more. What percentage of digitalization success depends on the human factor? What skills should be developed to implement digital solutions? What role does empathy play in this context? How can Brian Fogg’s behavioral model be used for implementing changes? These and many other questions were discussed by Illia Bachurin, former head of the Product IT Foundation for Education, social psychologist, and trainer.

The topic of personal cybersecurity was also highlighted as a crucial skill both at an individual and organizational level. To discuss cybersecurity, we invited Trokhym Babych, a leading expert in this field, IT specialist, and lecturer at the Faculty of Informatics of the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.” During his speech, Trokhym explained who hackers are, what they are capable of, how they operate, what interests them, the methodology of cyberattacks, and how to protect against them. He also outlined essential cybersecurity rules, corporate policies for countering cyberattacks, and response strategies for different dangerous situations.

Speeches by Illia Bachurin and Trokhym Babych

If you want to learn more about implementing cybersecurity principles in your organization, we recommend the course “Cyber Protection for Organizations,” available on the online platform SKOVORODA.

The School also addressed the state strategy for digital transformation in the medical field. Vadym Terentiuk, head of project and program management at the State Enterprise “Electronic Health,” and Associate Professor of the Department of Health Management at Bogomolets National Medical University, spoke about the role of digital tools in the development of electronic healthcare.

Speech by Vadym Terentiuk

We greatly value external experience and were pleased to listen to a presentation by Snizhana Rakcheieva, press secretary of the Deputy Prime Minister for Innovation, Education, Science, and Technology Development—Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov. Her speech was filled with practical advice and examples of government communications on reforms and projects.

Speech by Snizhana Rakcheieva

“The School demonstrated how relevant, important, and at the same time challenging digitalization is for educators. Cybersecurity, experience exchange on digital solutions implementation, communications, electronic residency distribution, digital transformation, soft skills for implementing changes, the digital ecosystem of universities, and the electronic healthcare system—these topics were identified by the School’s participants as some of the most useful. One of the most valuable aspects of the project was the lively discussions on the challenges of digital transformation in higher education within the world café session. The combination of valuable ideas and participants’ engagement in training sessions and informal communication provided us with very useful feedback that will allow us to refine future activities in the direction of digitalization,” shared Vitalii Zaiets, digitalization coordinator of the Ukrainian-Swiss project “Medical Education Development.”