Continuing medical education in Serbia 2011-2017: A standstill

Introduction/Objective. Continuing Medical Education (CME) is a crucial element to keep the level of professionalism in the three key fields of medical education: pre-clinical, clinical, and public health. The profile of CME in Serbia has been analyzed for the years 2011 to 2017. Methods. Between 2011 and 2017, 11.557 courses of CME have been submitted for accreditation, described by 26 variables. Due to the predominance of nominal data, we employed a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) using a NIPALS Algorithm (PCA/PLS) to arrange the 16 variables with complete information in such a way that most influential factors could be displayed and ranked. The analysis was done with TIPCO Statistical Software. Results. The Medical Faculty of Belgrade takes the top position among the medical faculties in Serbia with 569 or 7.9% (N = 1,187; 2011-2017) whereas non-educational institutions with 86.2% of all courses (N = 11,514) are the most dominant providers. Clinical topics dominate the thematic spectrum with 59.7%. Between 2012 and 2017, the total number of courses offered diminished by 16.9%. A PCA of 16 potential determinants of CME reveals that most relevant are duration, credit points, price and number of lecturers. Conclusions. For the last decade, a standstill or even regression in development can be observed. Especially the Faculties of Medicine in Serbia, as well as other major providers, should reconsider the entire structure of their administrative organization and initiate innovative development.

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Continuing medical education in Serbia with particular reference to the Faculty of Medicine, Belgrade

Vojnosanitetski pregled ◽

10.2298/vsp131026060b ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 72 (2) ◽

pp. 160-168 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Vesna Bjegovic-Mikanovic ◽

Nebojsa Lalic ◽

Helmut Wenzel ◽

Ruzica Nikolic-Mandic ◽

Ulrich Laaser

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Continuing Medical Education ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Principal Component ◽

Median Number ◽

Current Status ◽

Total Income ◽

Academic Promotion ◽

Medical Faculties

Background/Aim. Continuing Medical Education (CME), conceptualised as lifelong learning (LLL) aims at improving human resources and continuing professional development. Various documents of European institutions underline its key importance. This paper therefore tries to analyse the current status of CME and the main deficits in the delivery of LLL courses at medical faculties in Serbia with special consideration of the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade with detailed financial data available. Methods. Data of 2,265 medical courses submitted in 2011 and 2012 for accreditation were made available, thereof 403 courses submitted by 4 medical faculties in Serbia (Belgrade, Kragujevac, Nis, Novi Sad). A subset of more detailed information on 88 delivered courses with 5,600 participants has been provided by the Faculty of Medicine, Belgrade. All data were transferred into an Excel file and analysed with XLSTAT 2009. To reduce the complexity and possible redundancy we performed a principal component analysis (PCA). Correlated component regression (CCR) models were used to identify determinants of course participation. Results. During the 2-year period 12.9% of all courses were submitted on preclinical and 62.4% on clinical topics, 12.2% on public health, while 61.5% of all took place in Belgrade. The subset of the Faculty of Medicine, Belgrade comprised 3,471 participants registered with 51 courses accredited and delivered in 2011 and 2,129 participants with 37 courses accredited and delivered in 2012. The median number of participants per course for the entire period was 45; the median fee rates for participants were 5,000 dinars in 2011 and 8,000 in 2012, resulting together with donations in a total income for both years together of 16,126,495.00 dinar or almost 144,000.00 euro. This allowed for a median payment of approximately 90 eur per hour lectured in 2011 and 49 euro in 2012. The 2 factors, D1 (performance) and D2 (attractiveness), identified in the PCA for Medical Faculties in Serbia, explain 71.8% of the variance. Most relevant are the duration of the courses, credit points, and hours per credit point gained by lecturers and participants respectively. In the PCA for Belgrade D1 and D2 explain 40.7% of the total variance. The CCR on the number of participants reveals the highest positive impact from the number of lecturers per course and the expenditure on amenities, the highest negative impact from the total income collected per participant. Conclusion. The faculties of medicine in Serbia should reconsider the entire structure of their organisation of CME, especially to improve the quantity and quality of registration limit the course fee rates per hour and reduce administrative and other costs request lecturing in CME programmes as obligatory for academic promotion and organise a focussed marketing.

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Continuing medical education during pandemic waves of COVID-19: Consensus from medical faculties in Asia, Australia and Europe

MedEdPublish ◽

10.15694/mep.2021.000064.1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Carmen Wong ◽

Walter van den Broek ◽

Gillian Doody ◽

Martin Fischer ◽

Michelle Leech ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Continuing Medical Education ◽

Medical Faculties

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Technology Enhanced Learning in Continuing Medical Education

Encyclopedia of Information Communication Technology ◽

10.4018/978-1-59904-845-1.ch098 ◽

2009 ◽

pp. 742-749

Author(s):

Guglielmo Trentin

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Continuing Medical Education ◽

Medical Profession ◽

University Education ◽

Educational Institutions ◽

Technology Enhanced Learning ◽

Traditional Training ◽

Set Up ◽

The Individual ◽

Enhanced Learning

The traditional training programs will be increasingly intended as the early stages of a learning process designed to last over time under the direct responsibility of the individual. This is true particularly in cases where professional knowledge is prone to rapid obsolescence. Such is the case of the medical profession where, besides an initial university education and professional development based on direct experience, there is the need for a process of continuous education on scientific research results and best professional practice carried out by colleagues (Manning & DeBakey, 2001; Wyatt, 2000). It is precisely due to this requirement that many educational institutions and agencies in Italy have set up specific continuing medical education (CME) programs.

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