Dear colleagues and dear friends!
On behalf of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, I welcome the participants and guests of the XIII All–Russian Conference with international participation “A week of Medical Education – 2022”.
Traditionally, every year, we have the opportunity to compare priorities and determine the main tasks for the nearest future in terms of one of the most important aspects for Russian healthcare – the training of highly qualified specialists for the industry, and the hybrid format of today’s conference enables you to involve the maximum number of participants from all over the world in the discussion and development of necessary solutions, contributes to the joining efforts of the medical community, creating conditions for constructive dialogue and exchange of experience between experts.
Today, primary health care should be paid special attention in the healthcare system, its importance in the modern healthcare system cannot be overstated.
The pandemic of a new coronavirus infection indicated that in a crisis situation, among all health systems, those countries with reliable primary health care, such as our country, were the most responsive to new challenges and made effective solutions to keep the health and lives of citizens in safety.
Even in the title it is possible to define its primary place, it means the main, priority, the closest to the patient.
This is the first stage that provides direct contact between medical workers and patients, brings medical care as close as possible to the place of residence and forms the first element of the continuous process of health protection.
The great majority of requests for medical care begins in outpatient-polyclinic branch of healthcare and it is here that patients should be provided with high-quality diagnostic and subsequent medical care, which also enables to avoid useless time spending, complex and expensive types of medical care. Such indicators as the increase in life expectancy of the population and the decrease in premature, preventable mortality directly depend on the reliability and efficiency of the primary health care system.
And this means that the primary health care branch carries a large intellectual component, as it is a high level of piloting of patient management for a long period of time. The ability to assist a patient for a long time, managing risks to his health, guiding the patient along the path of maintaining the existing level of health or even its improving is a unique and in-demand skills that specialists in primary healthcare should possess.
Nowadays it can be noticed the increase in the number of general practitioners thanks to acquired rights of the graduates fixed by the Ministry of Health of the RF to find a job of district doctors after passing primary accreditation.
In 2021, 42% of 21,980 graduates of the specialty “General Medecine” were employed in therapeutic areas, 54% of 6,269 graduates of the specialty “Pediatrics” were employed in pediatric areas.
It is necessary to continue working in the field of training of universal specialists who posses not only modern approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, but also work-oriented in a digital environment, using telemedicine, and who possess the principles of lean technologies. All these skills of specialists increase the availability and, most important, the quality of primary health care.
It demands to overview a part of educational programs and technologies that will be meant for formation of transferable skills for future doctors and for observing the main principle of practice orientation. Practical training of students will facilitate it.
At present time 54% of higher education institutions subordinate to the Ministry of Health have their own multidisciplinary clinics (more than 16,000 beds), which contributes to the quality organization of practical training.
More than 80.4% of all organizations have their own departments acting as structural units which provide office based medical care (the total capacity is about 20,000 visits per shift).
Besides, more than 3.5 thousand medical organizations of the regions privide the infrastructure for training personnel for medical industries on contract basis. Universities are constantly working to expand the bases of practical training and practice. And this work, especially cooperation with medical organizations in the regions, needs to be developed.
The prestige of medical specialties does not loose actuality with years that`s due to the development of medical science and technology, the introduction of new methods of diagnosis and treatment, as well as the dynamic adaptation of educational programs to the real situation in healthcare. The training of specialty doctors is provided by residency program and today that`s not only theoretical medical knowledge, these are programs that include more than 70% of training at clinical bases, supra-professional skills.
In recent years, such topical medical specialties as medical microbiology, physical and rehabilitation medicine have been introduced, activities within which the doctor is required multidisciplinary knowledge and skills that should be still realized.
In 2021, at the expense of the federal budget, more than 17 thousand specialists were accepted for residency program of training which is 1.5 thousand more than last year. The increase in the admission quotas compared to 2020 was 7%, and compared to 2017 – 95%. The volume of target admission also increased by 7% in comparison with the previous year. A 100% quota of target admission is set for 22 specialties of the residency.
Moreover about 70% of budget admission falls to the share of educational and scientific organizations of the Ministry of Health of Russia. Thus about 21 thousand people enrolled in residency programs under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health of Russia in 2021, more than 13 thousand of them at the expense of the federal budget and more than 7.5 thousand under tuition agreements.
Nowadays the doctor must simultaneously solve many tasks, including clinical search, teamwork, clinical thinking and the ability to use “digital assistants” widely implemented today in his practice.
It is possible to reduce the time of adaptation of graduates when applying for a job by training already at universities to work in those information systems that are being implemented in the region within the framework of the federal project “Creation of a unified digital circuit in healthcare based on a unified state information system in the field of healthcare (EGISZ)”.
And targeted training of future doctors enables students to be involved in the provision of medical care today, so from the first days of the detgradation of the epidemiological situation caused by the spread of the virus, students, as well as their mentors and teachers – employees of medical universities actively joined in the fight against the spread of the new coronavirus infection COVID-19. By the efforts of our universities, more than 50 thousand students (both students and residents) and more than 15 thousand university staff from among the teaching staff were involved in providing medical care to patients; more than 1.5 thousand beds were repurposed in university clinics.
The work of students with patients during the pandemic not only provided serious support to the healthcare system, but also became an important contribution to the formation of future doctors themselves – they recieved important experience in communicating with patients and valuable practical skills.
I would like to thank all those who have made an invaluable contribution to the fight against the spread of the new coronavirus infection.
And as well the Russian volunteer movement, actively supported by the Ministry of Health of Russia, also provids real assistance to the healthcare system and is today a priority area of social and youth policy.
2,400 medical volunteer school teams have been created in 83 regions. At present more than 7,000 students who have passed training can carry out voluntary activities in medical organizations.
Within the framework of the All-Russian project of improving the functioning conditions of paramedic and obstetric centers,#ДоброВСело more than 3,000 visits to remote settlements have been made to increase the availability of medical knowledge.
At the period of pandemia more than 250,000 volunteers joined the All-Russian action #МыВместе. In 2021, 35,000 volunteers provided assistance in more than 1,600 medical organizations, and 18,390 volunteers provided vaccination of citizens against a new coronavirus infection in all regions of the country. Besides 11,000 volunteers worked in call centers and at “hotlines”, and over 250,000 psychological consultations were conducted for citizens on COVID-19 issues.
In conclusion, I would like to say that the “Week of Medical Education” is a good example of an effective platform for dialogue between scientists, specialists and health system coordinators at various levels, both in discussions aimed at discussing the most important agenda of specialized education and the exchange of experience between Russian and international specialists, and in the modernization of Russian medical education as a whole and the formation of a national digital models of healthcare of the future.
I wish all participants and guests of the conference success in their work, productive meetings and contacts and of course good health!