Medical Education System Research Articles

Assessing Alzheimer's disease knowledge among Egyptian medical students in the context of recent educational reforms

BackgroundMedical students are the future doctors and play an essential role in the management of health issues. Their understanding of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is not only required but also necessary to provide the best possible care to patients. The present study aimed to assess medical students' knowledge about AD within the context of the recent reform of the Egyptian medical educational system, which switched to competency-based instead of outcome-based education since 2017.MethodsA descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students in public and private Egyptian medical schools. Between August and November 2024, an anonymous self-administered questionnaire was uploaded to Google Forms and distributed online through commonly used social media platforms. The Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS), a validated and reliable tool, was used for the measurement of AD-related knowledge. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression models were used to determine the factors associated with having good or poor knowledge about AD among participants.ResultsIn total, 1100 medical students were included through convenience and snowball sampling methods; their mean age was 20.9 ± 1.9 years, 55.5% were males, 59.6% were in their clinical years, and 15.6% had a positive family history of AD. The students' mean knowledge score was 19.10 ± 2.96 out of 30, representing 63.7% of answers correct, with a range of scores between 9 and 29. About 70.8% of the sample had good knowledge. The highest percentage of correct answers was for the treatment and management domain (76.5%), while the lowest percentage was for the caregiving domain (52.2%). Predictors of good knowledge were females [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.33 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.01–1.76, p = 0.043], attending a public university [aOR = 1.62 (95% CI: 1.09–2.41), p = 0.015), clinical year students [aOR = 1.53 (95% CI: 1.07–2.16), p = 0.018], living in an urban area [(aOR = 1.67 (95% CI: 1.23–2.25), p < 0.001], and having higher family monthly income [aOR = 1.75 (95% CI: 1.13–2.72), p = 0.012].ConclusionsThe study highlights gaps in Egyptian medical students' knowledge of AD. Knowledge gaps were found in domains of caregiving and risk factors, urging educators and policymakers to enhance curricula, particularly preclinical curricula, with a specific focus on some socio-economic determinants.

The Evolution and Challenges of Family Medicine in Kyrgyzstan: A Health System Analysis.

Following its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Kyrgyzstan became a pioneer in Central Asia by implementing extensive health care reforms that introduced family medicine. Beginning in the late 1990s, these reforms strengthened primary health care by introducing family medicine as a specialty and a key component of the health care system. This approach improved the quality of medical care while reducing health care costs and gradually extended to reforms in medical education and the broader health care system, including efforts to address the rural medical workforce. However, challenges remain in fully embedding family medicine into Kyrgyzstan's medical education and health care system. This paper aims to analyze the progress made since the early reforms, assess recent developments, and explore the ongoing challenges in institutionalizing family medicine within Kyrgyzstan's health care landscape. A full-text Russian translation of this article is available from author Paul Fonken (paul.fonken@gmail.com).

PISTACHIO (Primary Trauma Care Course Impact & Outcome): A prospective before and after intervention study of the Primary Trauma Care course effect on road trauma morbidity and mortality in two Vietnamese hospitals.

PISTACHIO (Primary Trauma Care Course Impact & Outcome): A prospective before and after intervention study of the Primary Trauma Care course effect on road trauma morbidity and mortality in two Vietnamese hospitals.

Management of the activities of the All-Russian public organization "Medical League of Russia"

The All–Russian public organization "Medical League of Russia" is an association of experts who, since 2011, have been involved in improving the quality of medical education, including through state and professional-public accreditation procedures. The organization conducts an independent assessment of the quality of educational programs at various levels, ensuring that information about the examination results is open and accessible. Currently, the Medical League of Russia consists of one hundred ninety nine highly qualified experts. Professional and public accreditation, being a practice-oriented assessment tool, allows assessing the quality of graduate training in accordance with the requirements of the labour market. Since the establishment of the Medical League of Russia, more than 50 professional and public accreditation procedures have been carried out in educational institutions of medical and pharmaceutical profile. In 2022–2024, more than 200 educational programs were examined. The assessment system is constantly being improved: The average expert assessment of educational programs is increasing, and the number of institutions participating in the accreditation procedure is growing. The plans for further development include the legislative consolidation of mandatory professional and public accreditation for medical and pharmaceutical institutions, the introduction of automated educational quality assessment services and the development of new assessment methods. The Medical League of Russia also organizes professional competitions and contributes to improving the quality of educational services through the involvement of experts and employers in evaluating the medical education system.

Adaptive strategies of a medical school during Sudan’s armed conflict

BackgroundMedical schools play a vital role in healthcare, educating future professionals while upholding a moral and societal duty to address community health needs. In armed conflicts, these responsibilities intensify as health system failures, infrastructure damage, and educational disruptions increase the demand for medical training and community support. This study examines how the Faculty of Medicine, University of Gezira (FMUG), employs adaptive strategies, crisis management, and collaboration to sustain education, research, and community engagement while addressing evolving health challenges during the Sudan conflict.MethodsWe used a qualitative approach, combining document analysis and interviews with nine key informants. Document analysis applied the WHO Social Accountability Grid Framework, assessing relevance, equity, quality, and cost-effectiveness across education, research, and service in planning, doing, and impacting phases. Interview data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s six-step thematic analysis.ResultsDocument analysis identified five themes: curriculum innovation, technology use, community service, collaboration, and research-driven policy. Interviews with faculty and administrators further highlighted five themes on FMUG’s adaptive strategies: impact on education, crisis management, flexible learning, implementation challenges, and sustainability.ConclusionThis study highlights the critical role of educational innovation in sustaining academic continuity and addressing community needs in conflict zones. FMUG’s integration of flexible learning, technology, and strategic partnerships enabled both immediate crisis response and long-term resilience. Future research should examine the lasting impact of these adaptive strategies on medical education and healthcare systems.

Building the Building Blocks: Development of a Mission-Driven Residency Application Scoring Rubric for Holistic Review.

Traditional residency application review methods are fraught with bias. Literature on how to create and use rubrics to aid in holistic review is lacking. The authors describe their residency program's process of designing and implementing a mission-based rubric to aid in holistic review. After updating the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center internal medicine-pediatrics residency program's mission statement in April 2020, the authors used experiences, attributes, and metrics domains to create a rubric based on the Electronic Residency Application Service application. The rubric included sections on the personal statement, Medical Student Performance Evaluation notable points and curriculum vitae data, additional positives, academic metrics, and red flags, with each section weighted based on alignment with the program's mission and values. The authors, as program leadership, found the rubric to be clear, efficient, and easily replicable, requiring ~15-20 minutes to read, review, and score each application. The rubric aided in equitable scoring across reviewers, with underrepresented in medicine (URM) applicants scoring similarly to non-URM applicants for the 2020-2021, 2021-2022, and 2022-2023 seasons, and led to reproducible results with an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.82. The rubric led to an increase in the number of applicants who identify as URM in the initial top 10 rank list each season, as compared to the prior 3 seasons, and the holistic review scores served as a starting point for a final rank list. Larger programs could scale similar holistic review processes by training additional reviewers to use the rubric or implementing it at various stages in the recruitment process. The authors were prompted to consider and improve ways their program could support potential residents. By implementing holistic review, programs can recruit diverse applicant classes that reflect their mission, values, and communities served, while mitigating biases inherent to graduate medical education systems.

The Evolving PHM Workforce: Shortages and Opportunities.

Entering our third decade as a career pathway in pediatrics, and 6th year as a pediatric subspecialty, Pediatric Hospital Medicine (PHM) has become a popular career choice. Recent estimates suggest that anywhere between 3000-4400 physicians identify as pediatric hospitalists in the United States.1 Inpatient care is provided in either freestanding children's hospitals, children's hospitals within hospitals, or community hospitals with or without pediatric units. Harrison et al created a figure (Figure 1) depicting the overall PHM workforce.2 In2 In addition to provision of clinical care ranging from newborn medicine to general and specialty inpatient care of infants through young adults, pediatric hospitalists make noteworthy contributions to health service research, patient safety, medical education, quality improvement, and health system leadership. Annual physician turnover is higher in hospital medicine than in many other specialties, with a mean turnover rate of 10.9% in 2019, and may be higher post-pandemic.3 Retention, job satisfaction, and sustainability of the workforce are essential components of any program.4 Faculty departures are expensive; recruiting and hiring physicians to replace a departing physician can carry substantial impacts including financial costs, fracturing of professional relationships, and shifting the clinical burden to remaining members of the healthcare team.3 An understanding of the factors influencing the workforce are important to optimizing coverage models, professional fulfillment and retention.

Grammatical approach to describing skin lesions: framework and assessment.

Teaching the foundation of dermatology for non-dermatologists has proven difficult, especially in a compact undergraduate medical education system. This has consequently led to insufficient preparation of non-dermatologists, including primary care residents, to identify, describe, and manage skin conditions. We present a grammatical approach for learning and describing skin lesions that will provide an early, expandable framework built from easily digestible components. From results in our own institution, we hope this tool will empower trainees of all expertise and specialties to apply their knowledge at the bedside and aid in communication and collaboration with dermatology consultants when needed. Twenty-one first-year medical students at the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School voluntarily completed our learning module with a pre- and post-survey, which recorded their confidence in verbally describing common skin lesions and formulating differential diagnoses. 85.7% of respondents said the learning tool helped them better organize a description of skin findings. There was a statistically significant increase in confidence after the learning tool for describing skin lesions (p<0.05) and formulating a differential diagnosis (p<0.05). These results suggest the grammatical approach improves the confidence of trainees by both describing skin lesions and formulating differential diagnoses based on the lesion's description.

Co-Designing a Justice-Oriented Assessment System in a Pediatric Residency Program: Report from the Designing for Equity in Medical Education Project.

There is a large body of evidence that assessment systems in medical education are inequitable for many groups of learners. A common approach to improve equity has been the use of organizational strategies, where training program leaders work to develop and implement improvements in existing assessment systems from their perspective to improve equity. However, emerging assessment approaches, such as justice-oriented assessment, argue that assessment systems must be made more equitable by critique and re-building through co-design with learners, assessors, and other key users. Little is known about how to apply these methods to workplace-based assessment in medical education. To fill the knowledge gap about how to co-design a more equitable, justice-oriented, workplace-based assessment system in pediatric post-graduate medical education. Using the Design Justice framework, the authors completed 4 of the 5 phases of Design Thinking to co-design with learners and other users a workplace-based assessment system in their institution's pediatric residency program. To understand whether and how Design Justice principles were present and operationalized in the process of co-designing the assessment system, the authors evaluated the design activities in each phase of the Design Thinking process, the outputs of the design process, and the experiences of participating users. Evidence of Design Justice principles included participants' feelings of being heard, affirmed, and empowered, as well as the design teams' iterative, critical reflection on making the project accessible, accountable, sustainable, and collaborative. This project offers a practical example of co-designing a justice-oriented assessment system, the process and principles of which can inform the efforts of advancing equity in assessment.

Adapting Ukrainian Medical Education to the Challenges of War: A Scoping Review

Introduction: the war in Ukraine, which began in 2014 and escalated into a full-scale invasion in 2022, significantly transformed teaching methods in higher education. The skills acquired during distance learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 proved valuable, especially in medical education, where mastering practical skills typically requires in-person practice at the patient’s bedside, in operating rooms, and laboratories.Method: to address the challenge of acquiring practical skills remotely, simulation methods were introduced, applicable both in simulation centers and through virtual simulation technologies. A systematic review was conducted to generalize and analyze research publications on the integration of simulation teaching methods into the medical education system. A total of 32 publications were selected according to systematic review standards. The literature search was conducted from 2019 to 2024 using the keywords “simulation learning,” “virtual reality,” “mixed reality,” “medical education,” and “distance learning” on the Scopus and PubMed platforms. The systematization of the analyzed literature was performed using the PRISMA program.Results: the review identified the main areas of implementation of virtual simulation tools in the educational process. The analysis highlighted how these tools contribute to the development of practical skills and enhance the overall learning experience for medical students during distance learning.Conclusions: the use of simulation training in medical education represents significant progress, improving the quality of training for medical professionals and ensuring the effective development of practical skills, even in remote learning conditions.

Integrating Medical and Traditional Acupuncture Education in the United States: Enhancing Patient Care Through Combined Expertise.

In the United States, acupuncture education is divided into two primary pathways: medical acupuncture for licensed physicians and traditional acupuncture rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for nonphysician practitioners. These pathways reflect the distinct educational needs and historical development of acupuncture in the United States. To compare medical and traditional acupuncture educational systems, highlighting their strengths, weaknesses, and the potential for integration to enhance patient care. This narrative review utilized comprehensive literature searches, analyzing peer-reviewed articles, institutional reports, and accreditation documents. The study focused on programs approved by the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture and accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine. Medical acupuncture programs are shorter and emphasize evidence-based practice, allowing physicians to integrate acupuncture into conventional medical treatment. These programs focus on Western medical terminology and concepts but may lack depth in TCM principles. Traditional acupuncture programs offer extensive training in TCM principles and practices, including herbal medicine, with comprehensive clinical training but may lack emphasis on modern medical science and research-based evidence. There is a significant workforce disparity between licensed traditional acupuncturists and the much smaller number of medical acupuncturists in practice. Integrating both educational pathways can enhance patient care through comprehensive treatment approaches. Successful integration examples demonstrate improved patient outcomes. Future efforts should focus on developing joint training programs, promoting research collaboration, and increasing hospital-based internships to foster interdisciplinary learning and practice.

Shaping the future of healthcare: insights into Japan’s medical education system

Abstract Japan’s medical education system has evolved significantly over recent decades, adapting to societal demands, an aging population, and technological advancements in healthcare. Grounded in universal health coverage, Japan’s healthcare framework emphasizes accessibility and high-quality care, necessitating a medical education system capable of producing competent and compassionate physicians. The six-year undergraduate medical program progresses through foundational sciences, clinical exposure, and hands-on training, culminating in national licensing examinations. Key milestones include assessments such as the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) and computer-based test (CBT), which became nationally standardized in 2023. The post-graduate pathway incorporates outcome-based residency system and specialized training programs. This structured approach ensures that Japanese physicians are prepared for the complexities of modern healthcare, including team-based care models and interdisciplinary collaboration. Recent reforms in the “Model Core Curriculum” emphasize outcome-based education, focusing on patient-centered care and technological adaptability. Challenges such as physician overwork, workforce shortages, and integrating advanced technologies remain, prompting systemic reforms like work style changes and task shifting. By addressing these challenges, embracing innovations, and maintaining alignment with global standards, Japan’s medical education system continues to prepare healthcare professionals to meet evolving demands and sustain the nation’s healthcare excellence.

U.S. Internal Medicine Residents’ Inpatient Learning Experience Variation Revealed Through Electronic Health Record Data

Phenomenon : Residents are assumed to be prepared for practice after completing required rotations, but there is little understanding of what clinical conditions they manage. Electronic health records (EHRs) capture resident clinical activities, but few studies have effectively used EHR data to characterize resident experiences. Approach : We extracted EHR data for all patients admitted July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019 cared for by an internal medicine resident in the Johns Hopkins Hospital residency program. We examined individual residents’ encounters with specific clinical conditions, identified using the principal International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10 CM) discharge code and categorized according to the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Certification Exam Blueprint. We compared numbers and percentages of clinical conditions encountered across individuals and postgraduate years (PGYs). Findings : We included 19,129 admissions for 14,657 patients cared for by 135 residents. ABIM categories most commonly seen were cardiovascular (CV) (mean 20.4%, SD 4.7%), infectious diseases (ID) (mean 19.5%, SD 2.2%), and gastroenterology (GI) (mean 11.2%, SD 3.2%). The largest differences between clinical conditions encountered and ABIM Blueprint were excesses of 10.5% for ID and 6.4% for CV and deficits of 6.1% for rheumatology and orthopedics and 5.5% for endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism. Total number of admissions per resident ranged 522-963 for PGY-1, 457-1268 for PGY-2, and 224-811 for PGY-3. Percentages of clinical conditions seen varied for individuals in the same postgraduate year: e.g., for CV, ranges were 16-23% for PGY-1, 15-40% for PGY-2, and 10-25% for PGY-3. Insights : Individual residents in the same program had varied inpatient experiences, suggesting a need to understand implications for variation. Linking residents to clinical conditions encountered using EHR data may generate insights that can be incorporated into precision medical education systems to improve learning and clinical outcomes.

From India to Aruba: Insight into Teaching and Cultural Approaches in India and the Dutch Caribbeans Medical Education System

From India to Aruba: Insight into Teaching and Cultural Approaches in India and the Dutch Caribbeans Medical Education System

Description of the Knowledge, Attitudes and Actions of UKI Medical Faculty Students towards Online Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a change in the medical education system throughout the world to an online learning system to reduce the potential spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. Online learning activities have been going on for approximately two years since the government imposed restrictions on face-to-face learning activities. This research aims to describe the knowledge, attitudes and actions of Indonesian Christian University Faculty of Medicine students class 2018 to 2020 towards online learning. This research was conducted on 436 students in January 2022 using a questionnaire as a research instrument. The response rate of this research was 55.5% with a total of 242 students responding. Most of the respondents were women from the class of 2018 to the class of 2020 with an age range of 17-23 years and while participating in online learning lived with their families. The proportion of students with good knowledge was 74.4% (180 respondents). Most students (62.4%) agreed that online learning could be applied at FK UKI and 40.5% of respondents felt that online learning was more comfortable and flexible compared to conventional learning. A total of 101 respondents (41.8%) admitted that they still adhere to the same study schedule as before the pandemic. 96.3% of students took good action by maximizing the use of the internet and digital media for learning activities during the online learning period. Keywords: online learning, COVID-19, attitudes, actions

Survey on Career Planning Awareness and Readiness Among Freshman Medical Students in the Context of Digital Medicine

Objective: To understand the current situation of career planning awareness and readiness of freshman medical students with a background in digital medicine, and to provide references for optimizing the medical education system and career guidance. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on freshman medical students at a university in Yunnan Province using questionnaire survey. Results: A total of 272 questionnaires were distributed and 264 valid questionnaires were returned, yielding an effective response rate of 97.10%. The average score of digital medical awareness of freshman medical students was (70.50 ± 8.81), and 63.63% of the students had a high awareness (score ≧ 70); The average score of career planning awareness and readiness of freshman medical students was (91.76 ± 14.87), and 60.63% of students had high awareness and readiness (score ≧ 90). Pearson correlation analysis showed that the total score of digital medical awareness was positively correlated with the total score of career planning awareness and readiness (r = 0.13, P &lt; 0.05). Conclusion: Freshman medical students’ career planning awareness and readiness are generally good, but their practical application of digital medical-related skills still needs improvement. It is suggested that schools strengthen the integration of interdisciplinary curriculum, introduce digital vocational training modules, and formulate differentiated guidance strategies for different majors to enhance students’ professional competitiveness in the digital medical era.

Virtual reality simulator in Pharmaceutical Education

Introduction. In the system of higher medical and pharmaceutical education, there is a growing need to implement new educational technologies. For educational institutions, virtual reality (VR) represents a promising educational technology to enhance student engagement and adapt them to practical conditions. Objective. To evaluate the effectiveness of using VR technologies in the educational process of students studying pharmacy. Material and methods. The study was conducted as part of the "Pharmaceutical Propedeutic Internship" using the VR simulator "Virtual Full-Service Pharmacy," developed on the VR application platform Unreal Engine with the Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset. Using the VR simulator or traditional methods, students solved situational tasks (cases) of two types: "Consultation and sale of over-the-counter medications" and "Placement of medicines and pharmacy assortment goods upon receipt in the pharmacy." Students then completed their internship at a prototype pharmacy based on the virtual pharmacy, solving the cases in practice. Results. The results of the study showed the usefulness of applying VR for mastering practical skills in tasks involving interaction with virtual objects (the case focused on the placement of medicines and pharmacy goods). The survey indicated that students showed a high interest in learning with VR, which points to a positive perception of this technology in the educational process. At the same time, drawbacks related to the management of VR devices and physiological discomfort were identified. A SWOT analysis of the prospects of VR technologies in educational practice confirmed the feasibility of further development and integration into the training of pharmacy students. Conclusion. The use of VR technologies in the educational process of pharmacy students can improve the results of theoretical training and accelerate adaptation to real-world conditions during subsequent internships, especially in tasks involving active interaction with 3D objects. The discomfort reported by some students from using VR equipment indicates the need for improvements in both the hardware and software components of the simulator.

Ethical Challenges of Applying Advanced Technologies in Medical Education: A Scoping Review

Introduction: The integration of advanced technologies into the medical education system, while bringing extensive achievements and advancements, has also introduced significant challenges, including vital ethical issues. Therefore, the present study was conducted to review the ethical challenges of modern technologies in medical education. Method: This study is a scoping review conducted in five stages based on the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. The strategy follows a five-step framework: identifying the research question, identifying relevant studies, screening and selecting studies, extracting and processing data, and summarizing and reporting results. Data was collected from three databases: Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed on November 25, 2024, without any time or language restrictions. Results: The study included 35 articles out of 829 found in the initial search. The results showed that the most important common ethical challenges in modern technologies such as artificial intelligence, simulators, big data, information technology, and digital social media included privacy protection, bias, and lack of accountability. In 3D printing technology, ethical challenges also included reduced human interaction and violation of intellectual property rights. Conclusion: The future of medical education depends on finding an intelligent balance between the use of technology and the preservation of human values. Implementing clear laws and regulations, designing and implementing practical ethical frameworks, teaching ethics-oriented technology skills to students, and continuously monitoring outcomes can pave the way for responsible, fair, and ethical use of modern technologies in medical education.

Learning Styles, Preferences and Needs of Generation Z Medical Students

Background: Generation Z individuals have been described as being technologically sophisticated, dependent on gadgets and devices, have short attention spans, dislike reading printed material, prefer collaborative activities and learning in teams. It is of paramount importance to integrate their educational preferences with the medical curriculum for their better academic performances and enhanced learning. Objective: The study was a formal attempt to assess the learning needs, styles and preferences of the Gen Z medical students. Methods: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study. A sum of 120 MBBS students of 2nd year studying in Bangladesh Medical College and Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh were enrolled in this study by purposive method. A structured questionnaire was administered to them and data was collected by face-to-face interview. Findings were presented in tables and figures in the forms of means, frequencies and percentages. Results: Regarding gender, 70.8% were females. According to VARK inventory, 74.2% students preferred multimodal method of learning; among which 53.9% preferred bimodal approach. Highest mean score for individual VARK components was for auditory modality [8.59 (± 3.08)]; followed by kinesthetic [6.35 (± 4.26)]. Gender preferences of sensory modality reported no major differences; both genders preferred auditory followed by kinesthetic modality. Besides, 76.8% students said they chose mixed habits of learning meaning studying both alone and in groups. In addition, maximum students, meaning 100.0% and 95.8% mentioned that, interactive classes and in-hands training were the best educational tools and methods. It was also revealed that, 62.5% students thought that 60 minutes were the ideal duration for each lecture class. Lastly, they suggested that increased hands-on training (96.6%) and more practical-based tests (91.6%) were the most important factors which could improve the medical educational system. Conclusion: The study findings can guide the authorities on how the educational patterns and curriculum should be designed and adjusted which will impact the students’ learning process for better outcomes. Learning can only be effective if it is in alignment to the needs and preferences of the students.

Social adaptation in the process of training specialists in the secondary vocational education system

BACKGROUND: Medical professions have always been in demand and socially significant. Future specialists should not only develop professional competencies and practical skills, but also form socio-professional qualities and value orientations. The success of this process faces certain difficulties and factors that affect its effectiveness. The system of secondary medical education as an agent of professional socialization should create conditions for the development of personal and professional qualities of medical specialists, ensuring their consistent advancement in the process of socialization. AIM: Identification of factors influencing the success/failure of the process of professional socialization of specialists in the system of secondary vocational education. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A survey of students of medical colleges of Khabarovsk and its branches was conducted. The college and branches have 2,320 students of six training areas. A total of 378 respondents were interviewed using the questionnaire method and Google Forms software. To solve the research tasks set by the authors, the methods of analysis and generalization of the obtained data were used. When processing the data and analyzing the source materials, the methods of descriptive statistics provided by the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and Microsoft Excel software were used. RESULTS: The data analysis included identification of external and internal social factors of professional socialization of medical specialists at the stage of obtaining secondary medical education. We attributed the following to internal (subjective) factors: motives for recognizing the significance of the results of their work; the degree of expression of motivational attitudes (the desire to help/treat people); inclination (calling) to the profession; satisfaction with the results and conditions of professional training. In our opinion, external (objective) factors include social, economic and organizational factors. CONCLUSION: Modern professional socialization is determined by new vectors of development of secondary medical education, which is associated with the formation of qualitatively new ways of mastering general professional, professional and cultural competencies. The influence of a set of external and internal factors determining its success/failure on the process of professional socialization in the system of secondary vocational education is revealed. The main internal factors for student respondents are: the desire to help people; inclination/calling for the medical profession; interest in medical specialties and awareness of the social significance of the profession. The respondents identified the following external factors influencing the learning process: high mental load, organization of the educational process.