Prof. Marcin Gruchala: We all expect educational quality standards

We meet on the occasion of a conference on modern medical education. This is a broad topic, but perhaps the most important thread today is the quality standards of medical education. There is a heated discussion around this topic, and the first panel was devoted precisely to the standardization of education.

I think this is a very important conference, really focused on the quality of education. Appreciation of the standardization of education is important, especially at a time when we are launching the training of doctors at a great many universities that have not done so until now. It's about systemic vigilance to ensure the quality of education, so that the future doctor, nurse, paramedic or medical analyst, leaving the walls of the university, represent an appropriately high level of knowledge and skills. The conference was attended by more than 300 people, including representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Health or the Polish Accreditation Commission, as well as professional self-governments, students, doctoral students, academic teachers and deans and vice-deans responsible for didactics. Everyone is discussing the standards in an extremely substantive manner. I think this is the first time in history that educational standards are being discussed in a substantive and open manner before they go into effect. We are all looking forward to these standards, and from the discussion at the conference, I think we will soon see them from the Ministry of Education and Science and start implementing them. Medicine is an area that is changing very rapidly and changes in education are also necessary.

We see that more universities, including professional universities, are interested in launching a medical faculty. So the standards that are being worked on and the recommendations to be developed after the conference will probably be a guidepost for these universities.

We need to focus on quality assurance, and we need to be clear about what its criteria are. It is necessary to have a standardized exam, concerning not only the knowledge that doctors are subjected to today, but one that will verify the acquired practical skills of graduates in the same way at every university, under the same conditions. There are certain criteria that simply cannot be waived, caring for patient safety and the quality of medical services in Poland. I hope that the ministries of education and science and health and PKA will be ruthless in enforcing these requirements on all universities, regardless of their nature.