The Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine together with a team of experts  and representatives from academia, with the support of the American  Chamber of Commerce, organized the “Continuous Professional Development  of Doctors” Round Table to discuss the new philosophy of continuous  professional development (CPD) of health professionals, as well as the development of requirements and criteria for CPD providers. Key aspects of the  implementation of the new CPD system were outlined by Oleksandr  Linchevskyi, Deputy Minister of Healthcare of Ukraine, Inna Sovsun, vice  president of the Kyiv School of Economics, and Mladena Kaсhurets,  advisor to acting Minister of Healthcare of Ukraine.

The implementation of the new system of continuous professional  development of doctors envisages the introduction of innovative  approaches to the post-graduate education and training of doctors, their  professional development. In addition, the new system will encourage  the integration of Ukrainian doctors into the international professional  community.

"Finally, the state will officially recognize the knowledge, skills and experience acquired not only through participation in formal events and activities organized by national academies of postgraduate education, but also through training abroad and e-learning. This is the first time we are talking about the actual demonopolization of postgraduate medical education," noted Oleksandr Linchevskyi, Deputy Minister of Healthcare of Ukraine.

Inna Sovsun presented the medical education development strategy to  the round table participants and pointed to a number of areas requiring  priority attention. Mladena Kachurets outlined the legal and regulatory  framework for the implementation of the new CPD system and facilitated  the CPD System Construction workshop.

The members of the Ministry’s expert groups and respresentatives from  academia worked in teams, actively participated in the discussion and  made a number of practical recommendations aimed at improving the CPD  system, as well as the testing and certification processes and  procedures. Particular attention was paid to the introduction of the new  scoring system and the development of requirements and criteria for CPD  providers – academies of postgraduate education, professional  associations, NGOs, etc.

All round table participants agreed that the introduction of the new  CPD system will enable doctors to grow as professionals, to continualy  improve their performance and raise work standards to best meet the  health sector needs, which in turn will contribute to improving the  quality of health care and patient services