In this section of the site you can get acquainted with the latest news of the University of North-Western State Medical University. I.I. Mechnikov and its clinical divisions.

25th anniversary of the Department of Family Medicine, North-Western State Medical University. I.I. Mechnikov

Department of Family Medicine, North-Western State Medical University named after I.I. Mechnikov – 25 years! The anniversary was celebrated on a full-time basis in the historical building of the university on Kirochnaya, 41.

The department was founded in 1996 as part of the cooperation between the St. Petersburg Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education and the University of Iowa. The permanent head of the department is Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Olga Yurievna Kuznetsova. Today there are 5 professors, 7 associate professors, 14 assistants at the department.

Sergey Anatolyevich SAIGANOV, Rector of the North-Western State Medical University named after A.I. I.I. Mechnikova, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor:
“The department is 25 years old, an anniversary, and I believe that this department is one of the key ones now, graduating the department, which forms the final competencies of a doctor who leaves our university. And the fact that we are now seeing the remarkable results of accreditation of our graduates is largely the merit of Olga Yuryevna Kuznetsova and her department. I congratulate her on this holiday, on her anniversary, and I hope that she will always hold high the brand of our university, and we will be proud of the guys we are graduating. Of course, this is the merit of our entire university, but, nevertheless, the responsibility of this department is enormous. And we are very happy that she is doing such a great job with it.”

The Department of Family Medicine became part of the Therapeutic Faculty from the first days of the organization of the North-Western State Medical University named after I.I. Mechnikov. Training of doctors of primary health care, students of the 6th year of the Faculty of Medicine under the program of the discipline "Polyclinic Therapy" is underway. Over time, the program was significantly expanded due to the updating of the educational standard and the transition to a system of accreditation of specialists.

Olga Yurievna KUZNETSOVA, Head of the Department of Family Medicine, North-Western State Medical University. I.I. Mechnikova, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor:
“The department was the first to use simulation technologies – various dummies, and not only for CPR. In addition, the concept of a standardized patient and an electronic learning environment were already familiar terms for us in the early 2000s. We have such an unconventional background, because IAPO received a grant together with the University of Iowa, and the department was actually created within the framework of this grant. Then we got great opportunities for equipment and training, but most importantly, we got the opportunity to train a new generation of teachers who could teach this particular specialty, because without understanding in practice what a patient is with all his problems, it is impossible for others to determine these knowledge".

The training of family physicians in residency at the University of Iowa occurred largely through participation in the case management process supervised by a faculty member at the university's outpatient clinic. To implement this practice in Russian conditions, the Family Medicine Center was created and equipped.

In addition to long-term cooperation with an American university, in the period from 1996 to 2008, international projects were carried out with the Royal British College of General Practitioners, the Norwegian Association of Family Physicians, the Eastern European Committee of Sweden, and the Finnish Public Health Institute. To combine the Russian traditions of training doctors at the postgraduate level and modern educational technologies used by Western universities has become the main goal and task of the Department of Family Medicine.

Vadim Ivanovich MAZUROV, Chief Scientific Adviser, North-Western State Medical University. I.I. Mechnikova, Head of the Department of Therapy and Rheumatology named after E.E. Eichwald, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences:
“This is the University of Iowa, which is well known to us, this is Great Britain, the Royal College of General Practitioners, this is Belgium the Department of Family Medicine, this is, finally, Scandinavia, what is connected with Norway and with this large and very important section of the department's activities. But not only. It seems that over the years the department has fulfilled the most important task, firstly, what was associated with the publication and creation of new manuals, new books, new textbooks. Training at the highest level – practical skills and a theoretical basis – these are the unshakable components that are necessary to prepare a real specialist".

As part of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Department of Family Medicine, a two-day All-Russian conference with international participation "The place and role of a general practitioner in a changing world" was held.