Introduction. The entry of the Ukrainian state into the European educational space, bringing in line domestic educational standards of future medical profe-?sionals’ training to European ones led to the reform of higher medical education, expanding the content of educational programs, introducing new methods and technologies of teaching students and improving forms of cooperation of teachers and students in medical establishments of higher education. In this regard, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine decided to introduce a licensed integrated exam for students of medicalestablishments of higher education, which aimed to identify not only the level of training of graduates of domestic medical establishments, but also to compare their training with European and world levels.The purpose of the article is to reveal the history of the introduction of a licensed integrated medical exam in Ukraine, the content of the system of students’ training for it, the positive aspects and shortcomings of the first experience of this form of state certification in various medical establishments of higher education. Methods. During the work on the article the following main research methods were used: analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization, descriptive. Results. The history of the introduction of the licensed integrated exam in medicine in Ukraine during the end of the 20th – the first quarter of the 21st century in Ukraine is revealed in the article. The sites of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the Testing Center at the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, which contain state documents on the feasibility of the system of implementation of a licensed integrated medical exam; information about the experiment in some medical etablishments of higher education of Ukraine and the first experience of implementing licensed state certification in medical universities, schools, colleges and academies in the Ukrainian state are presented and analyzed. It was established that the experiment was initially conducted in some establishments of higher education since 1996 with further discussion of its results, and in 1998 the licensed integrated exam has become mandatory for all medical establishments of higher education of Ukraine that train specialists in “Medicine” and “Pharmacy”. Since 2000 it has become mandatory for specialists in “Dentistry”, and since 2004 exams have become mandatory for interns and in 2007 they have become mandatory for interns-dentists. Particular attention is paid to the content, structure and stages of implementation of this exam, analysis of the first results of its implementation and assessment of training for the exam by teachers and students of Ukrainian medical establishments of higher education. A comparative description of the methods of training, organization of the exam, information material for it, forms of independent training for the exam of students in medical establishments of higher education of different levels of accreditation is given. The experience of teachers’ work at such medical establishments of higher education as Bukovynian State Medical University, Vinnytsia National Medical University named after M.I. Pyrohov, Zaporizhzhia State Medical University, Ternopil State Medical University named after Ivan Horbachevsky, Kharkiv National University of Pharmacy, Zhytomyr Institute of Nursing, Dnipropetrovsk Medical Academy and others. Originality. The experience of introduction of the licensed integrated examination in medical estab-?ishments of higher education of Ukraine of different levels of accreditation is systematized for the first time.
Denys Dmytrovych Bitchuk
