PECULIARITIES OF TEACHING ELECTIVE DISCIPLINES AT THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTOLOGY, CYTOLOGY AND EMBRYOLOGY, IVANO FRANKIVSK NATIONAL MEDICAL UNIVERSITY

Abstract

The reformation of medical education and the introduction of new educational and professional programs presuppose a transition towards a competence-oriented approach in the training doctors that will result in the integration of the concepts of knowledge-understanding-skills and the development of proper competencies, defined as the ability and readiness for professional activity. Today, a qualified medical specialist is characterized not only by having a deep knowledge, but also by the ability to solve complex problems independently. The implementation of elective disciplines of natural science into the educational process of training specialists at the Master's level in the specialty 222 "Medicine" is aimed at fostering the necessary spectrum of general and professional competencies in the future doctor, developing clinical thinking, and enhancing motivation for self-improvement. The teaching staff of the Department of Histology, Cytology and Embryology, Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University has developed working curricula for two selected disciplines related to medicine and natural scienes: "Theoretical Foundations of Modern Reproductive Technologies" and "Morphological Foundations of Cell Therapy" for first-year students of the Faculty of Medicine. These disciplines are of great theoretical and applied importance for fundamental and clinical medicine because they provide an in-depth mastery of knowledge from the basics of regenerative medicine and cell therapy, the principles of the doctrine of stem cells, the theoretical foundations of the principles of reproductive technologies, and provide answers to a number of ethical questions the doctor have to encounter in the clinics. Practical classes are conducted on the basis of a specialized consultative and treatment department of assisted reproductive technologies of the State Institution "Precarpathian Centre for Human Reproduction" of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, educational and scientific-practical centre "Microscopy". The centre is equipped with personal computers, an interactive multimedia projector, laboratory-grade light microscopes, a CCD video camera, a digital camera, and image analysis software. The study rooms of the department are equipped with television panels, personal computers with cable access to "cloud" databases of histological images using digital microscopy technologies. The collection of micropreparations in the educational laboratory totals about 4 thousand copies. The proposed elective disciplines contributes to the formation of a clear understanding of the modern possibilities of assisted reproductive technologies and the possibilities of regenerative medicine and cell therapy, their limitations and the prospects for further progress in order to solve the problems of depopulation, increasing the efficiency of treatment of diseases of the central and peripheral nervous systems, diseases of the cardiovascular and endocrine systems. The knowledge and skills gained thought elective disciplines can create a basis for a conscious choice of a future medical specialty or directions of further scientific research.