The Ministry of Health has developed the first standard program of additional professional education

If the order is approved, it will come into force on March 1, 2026. At that time, organizations where doctors and pharmacists undergo retraining will have to switch to standard programs created instead of sample ones. The draft order on the approval of a standard, rather than sample, additional professional program has been presented by the regulator for public discussion for the first time.

The program developed by the Ministry of Health specifies what knowledge, skills and experience a specialist should receive during training. Thus, the student will be told about conducting medical examinations, treatment and rehabilitation of patients during pregnancy, in the postpartum period, after termination of pregnancy, with gynecological diseases and benign diffuse changes in the mammary glands in inpatient and outpatient settings, as well as in a day hospital.

It also includes training for conducting health education work among women aimed at developing a healthy lifestyle, medical preventive examinations, medical check-ups and dispensary observation of women in order to implement preventive measures to reduce maternal, perinatal and gynecological morbidity and assess the effectiveness of their implementation.

The program outline included training specialists in the analysis of medical and statistical information, maintaining medical documentation, organizing the activities of medical personnel at their disposal, as well as providing emergency medical care in life-threatening conditions, including clinical death.

In total, there are five modules and a final assessment. Module 1, "Obstetrics," is designed for 144 hours: lectures - 34 hours, seminars - 108 hours, and assessment - 2 hours. Module 2, "Obstetrics Practice," will last 182 hours (180 - practice, 2 - assessment). Module 3, "Gynecology," is designed for 158 hours: lectures - 38 hours, seminars - 120 hours, and assessment - 2 hours. Next comes Module 4, "Gynecology Practice," where practical classes will be 180 hours, and assessment - 2 hours.

Module 5 "Provision of medical care in emergency situations" includes lectures (2 hours) and seminars (6 hours). The final assessment will be 6 hours.

The midterm assessment for modules 1, 3 and 5 should include solving test tasks, situational problems, demonstrating skills in simulated and clinical conditions in accordance with the content of the modules and the planned learning outcomes. At the same time, for modules 2 and 4, the midterm assessment will include an assessment of the internship report containing a list of skills applied during participation in providing medical care, indicating the number of cases of using each skill, performing a manipulation.

According to the draft order, the criteria for successfully passing the intermediate assessment should be established by the organization implementing educational activities. It is proposed to conduct the final assessment in the form of an exam, which also includes solving test tasks, situational problems, demonstrating skills in simulated and clinical conditions. The student may be admitted to the final assessment only upon successful completion of the intermediate stages. The qualification document will be a diploma of professional retraining.

The regulator also presented standards for the qualification of employees of educational organizations. It must meet the characteristics established in the Unified Qualification Handbook of Positions of Managers, Specialists, and Employees. Lectures will be able to be given by employees with a candidate or doctor of medical sciences degree who have annual publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals over the past five years.

For modules 1 and 3, such classes may be conducted by teachers accredited in "obstetrics and gynecology" with at least five years of experience in the specialty. For module 5, lectures must be conducted by an employee accredited in one of the specialties: "anesthesiology-resuscitation" or "emergency medical care", who has at least three years of experience.

At least 70% of the volume of seminar-type classes must be conducted by employees with a candidate or doctor of medical sciences degree. By decision of the educational organization, lectures may be conducted in whole or in part using distance technologies, but their use is not permitted for seminars, practices, midterm and final assessments.

The project also sets requirements for the material and technical equipment of the educational organization. The classroom must have an area of ​​at least 2 square meters per student, and video projection equipment with Internet access must be installed there. In addition, it is necessary to install training equipment (simulators, mannequins, models) to develop skills in obstetrics during normal and complicated births, cesarean sections, vaginal examination using mirrors, hysteroscopy, colposcopy, palpation of the mammary glands in normal and pathological conditions.

The development of emergency care skills should be carried out in a simulation room with a simulator that will help you learn to determine the presence of signs of life, airway patency, temporary stopping of external bleeding, and will also help you learn the skills of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, using an automatic external defibrillator, applying an occlusive (sealing) dressing for chest wounds, gastric lavage, maintaining an optimal body position depending on its condition.

Amendments to Federal Law No. 273-FZ "On Education in the Russian Federation" regulating the right of the Ministry of Health to approve standard DPO for educational organizations (including medical faculties in non-core universities and private educational institutions) were approved at the end of February 2025. At the same time, President Vladimir Putin imposed a ban on distance learning when obtaining medical and pharmaceutical education. Previously, educational programs for DPO were based only on sample programs that did not have clear requirements.