International Medical Consensus Documents and Guidelines as the Basis for Getting Knowledge of Clinical Disciplines by Students

Abstract

The latest data on the diagnosis and treatment of patients with specific diseases are primarily accumulated in the international consensus documents and guidelines according to scientific evidence. In Ukraine, these documents are used mainly by the scientists who present the results of their clinical trials at various congresses and professional association meetings. As for Ukrainian students, the textbooks remain the main source of their knowledge; due to a long process of their preparing and publishing, they do not keep pace with rapid changes in the international documents. One way to solve the problem described is to reorient the methodology of training students. The fundamental postulates of such training should be as follows: the study of each disease semiotics should be based on the universally accepted criteria for its diagnosis described in the latest consensus documents, and the study of treatment methods for each disease should be based on the most important international guidelines according to scientific evidence. The tasks mentioned above can be implemented through teachers’ focusing on information taken from the international guidelines and consensus documents, introducing references to these documents in the methodological materials for students, increasing students’ English proficiency, creating database for the exams on the basis of the international guidelines and consensus documents, and clear agreement of Ukrainian and international medical terminology. The implementation of all the above mentioned is not an easy task, as the introduction of any changes requires appropriate funding including labor compensation for those who provide this introduction. However, without an operative system of acquainting students with the latest achievements in medical science supported by consensus documents of the universally recognized international medical organizations, Ukrainian medicine will not be able to keep pace with global medicine, and medical graduates, at the start of their career, will lag behind their colleagues abroad.