Medical education in Russia usually lasts 6 years for undergraduates or MBBS. The curriculum for the first two years is the same in all faculties. It includes preclinical and fundamental medical sciences, which are the basis for any medical specialty. Medical specialization begins in the third year of research; The curriculum includes propaedeutics, biochemistry and pathology (pathological anatomy and pathological physiology), clinical and special subjects, depending on orientation.
The main feature of medical education in Russia for both faculties of medical medicine and pediatrics is the introduction of a new approach to the training of general practitioners and pediatricians, which implies a two-year continuous primary specialization, one year, while in the institution and in another year after graduation. The nature of medical education in Russia and its curriculum in these faculties are designed to cover the entire general medical education for five years.
During the third, fourth and fifth years, students perform clinical work as nurses, medical assistants and clinical assistants. In the sixth year, medical students adopt their first specialization in one of the following clinical subjects: Faculty of Medical Medicine (Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology), Faculty of Pediatrics (Pediatrics, including Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Pediatric Surgery, including Orthopedics), Sub- specialization in clinical areas is not an option during the undergraduate program, since it is believed that fundamental knowledge in basic clinical subjects is fundamental to adequate training of doctors.
After 6 years of medical education in Russia, students pass a state exam in accordance with the curriculum, receive a doctorate diploma and undergo an internship in medical institutions under the guidance of specialists for one year. Relevant departments provide training in ophthalmology, otolaryngology, dietetics, climatotherapy, endocrinology, clinical biochemistry, physiotherapy, and such aspects of surgery as oncology and neurosurgery.
The teaching method in Russian medical schools includes lectures by leading specialists and regular practical exercises throughout the course.
Training programs in medical schools in Russia are adjusted to the needs of the population in accordance with the priorities of health care. Thus, when non-communicable diseases became a real health problem in the 1950s; these subjects have been strengthened and more widely incorporated into the curriculum. When the role of primary health care became more apparent in the 1970s, medical education in Russia was adapted to this target problem.
In Russian medical schools, after annual exams at the end of the fourth and fifth years, senior students of all faculties usually spend breaks between semesters in vocational training. Students are taught to use their knowledge, develop their professional skills, master modern methods of diagnosis and treatment, and become familiar with all the other work they will do in the future. It should be emphasized that at least 25 percent of the time in the curriculum in all specialties is devoted to practice at the level of primary health care.
Finally, after completing medical education in Russia, students must pass state exams in general and special medical subjects (depending on the orientation of a particular department) in order to receive a diploma in general medicine from the department of medical medicine (VRAC), as a pediatrician at the department of pediatrics, as a sanitary doctor at the Faculty of Hygiene, a dentist at the Faculty of Dentistry or a pharmacist of a pharmaceutical institution or faculty.
Every year about 60,000 students graduate from Russian medical schools. - Prof. Felix Vartanian, MD, Vice-Rector of the Russian Academy of Postgraduate Medical Education December 2008
