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BACKGROUND: In Bulgaria, procedural protocols following a citizen’s death are governed by an intricate network of normative documents. Despite the presumed alignment between international and national guidelines, practical experiences reveal shortcomings in the proficiency of healthcare providers, particularly in cases involving prior medical interventions or systemic vulnerabilities. AIM: This study aimed to assess the readiness of final-year medical students and early-career physicians in navigating death certification intricacies, including their responses, documentation precision, and postmortem procedures for bereaved families, with implications for national health statistics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: By employing a mixed-methods approach, this study distributed questionnaires to sixth-year medical students and practicing physicians, including those in emergency medicine centers and general practice. Data collection included paper-based and digital questionnaires, ensuring anonymity and ethical compliance. Statistical analysis, employing parametric (t-test) and nonparametric (Chi-square) tests, forms the basis for actionable recommendations and educational material development. RESULTS: This study included 143 participants, of which 41% expressed apprehension about managing out-of-hospital deaths. Approximately 44% claimed familiarity with death certification regulations, with students displaying higher theoretical confidence but lacking practical knowledge. Remarkably, 74% of physicians never received formal training in death certification. Discrepancies in issuing death certificates, timing, and notification procedures were identified. CONCLUSION: Findings reveal varying practices among physicians according to their specialties. Issues related to documentation, timing, and notification were prevalent. The study emphasizes the need for improved training, particularly for medical students. Emergency medicine doctors exhibited higher preparedness levels. Medical students and early-career physicians urgently require enhanced education in death certification preparedness. Incorporating these topics into medical curricula, offering specialized courses, and disseminating instructional materials can significantly enhance effectiveness. Future studies should assess the quality and accuracy of recorded causes of death, which affect healthcare statistics, public service, and legal procedures, underscoring the societal and administrative significance of death certification practices.

This essay sets out to explain how educational semiotics as a discipline can be used to reform medical education and assessment. This is in response to an ongoing paradigm shift in medical education and assessment that seeks to integrate more qualitative, ethical and professional aspects of medicine into curricula, and develop ways to assess them. This paper suggests that a method to drive this paradigm change might be found in the Peircean idea of suprasubjectivity. This semiotic concept is rooted in the scholastic philosophy of John of St Thomas, but has been reintroduced to modern semiotics through the works of John Deely, Alin Olteanu and, most notably, Charles Sanders Peirce. I approach this task as both a medical educator and a semiotician. In this paper, I provide background information about medical education, paradigm shifts, and the concept of suprasubjectivity in relation to modern educational semiotic literature. I conclude by giving examples of what a suprasubjective approach to medical education and assessment might look like. I do this by drawing an equivalence between the notion of threshold concepts and suprasubjectivity, demonstrating the similarities between their positions. Fundamentally, medical education suffers from tensions of teaching trainee doctors the correct balance of biological science and situational ethics/ judgement. In the transcendence of mind-dependent and mind-independent being the scholastic philosophy of John of St Thomas may be exactly the solution medicine needs to overcome this dichotomy.

The paper analyzes the life and professional journey of Nikolai F. Melnikov-Razvedenkov, an outstanding scientist, doctor, and professor, as a reflection of Russian history from the end of the 19th century till the first quarter of the 20th century. The study identifies the role of Nikolai F. Melnikov-Razvedenkov in the development of medical science and the establishment of medical education in the Kuban region. The analysis was conducted with the involvement of archival records, personal correspondence, and scientific works of Nikolai F. Melnikov-Razvedenkov. To solve research problems, the authors used historical descriptive, comparative historical, problem-based chronological, biographical methods, and the method of monographic description. It is shown that the scientist’s fate mirrors the cultural and historical era experienced by the country. The authors define the exclusive role of Nikolai F. Melnikov-Razvedenkov in the establishment of the Kuban Medical Institute. His life path helped reveal the inviolability of medical ethics based on mercy, dedication to the profession, and willingness to serve people. Even in the situation of social upheaval Nikolai F. Melnikov-Razvedenkov found the meaning of his life in scientific work and helping people. His example will allow the modern generation of doctors to gain a greater understanding of the essential purpose of their work.

The paper features the changes that take place in the process of adaptation of first-year students to the educational environment of the medical university during the first year of study. The methods research included diagnostic tools and methods of data processing, e.g. T.D. Dubowitzka and A. V. Krylova's technique "Adaptation of students at the university", questionnaire "Student Anxiety" in J. Taylor’s modification, φ-Fisher conversion multifunctional criterion and t-Student parametric criterion for dependent samples. A statistical analysis made it possible to make certain conclusions about the ambiguous nature of the dynamics of adaptation of freshmen to the educational environment of the medical university. The identified reliable differences in the indicators of adaptation to learning activity make significant additions to the scientific perception on the leading role of the given adaptation type, which has an open, pronounced, but fleeting positive character. The absence of significant differences in anxiety rates at the beginning and end of the school year indicates a fairly stable emotional background, with a predominance of average and elevated levels. On the other hand, certain aspects in the educational environment of the university cause persistent negative experience. The emotional state of the respondents by the end of the first year revealed a new aspect of anxiety, i. e. interpersonal relationships within the grouр. The authors believe this is due to the change of orientation in the adaptation process. The change reflects the formation of a community of freshmen with actively flowing processes of status differentiation and the transformation of a diffuse group into a prosocial association. This transformation suggests a different kind of adaptation dynamics to student grouр. This longer and more latent kind of adaptation is determined by intragroup processes.

The paper describes an interdisciplinary experience of teaching one of the modules of medical informatics in English. The interdisciplinary approach was introduced in the Ural State Medical University (USMU). During 2015–2017 academic years, the interdisciplinary team including teachers of the biomedical physics, informatics and mathematics department and foreign languages department of USMU were developing and introducing integrative classes on medical informatics in English. In total, 287 students of general medicine, pediatrics, dentistry and preventive medicine faculties participated in the survey concerning integrative training in medical informatics in English. Evaluation of both foreign language communication skills and abilities to search medical information in international databases was performed during practical studies. 76% of medical students responded positively to the opportunity to improve foreign language communication skills for professional purposes. We find it possible to develop some modules of professional disciplines in English to teach medical students.

The paper considers the issue of providing qualified medical specialists as one of the key problems of the public healthcare system in post-Soviet Kazakhstan. The main activities for medical staff training in the context of the process of development of the public healthcare system in Kazakhstan after the collapse of the Soviet Union have been analyzed. The potential of medical staff of the country during the transition period has been described. The signs of poor education and qualification of medical specialists, regional and professional imbalances in medicine have been revealed. The obtained data demonstrate the major drawbacks of the staff policy in the field of medical education and healthcare organization as a result of the insufficient funding and the command-administrative Soviet system. The main activities for creating the proper conditions for development of the medical staff training system have been discussed in relation with the processes of integration and development of science, education, and public healthcare under the new socio-economic and political conditions. The factors that hinder the development of the effective medical staff training system have been identified, and its main results have been analyzed. The influence of social, economic, moral and cultural factors on the labor market and medical education has been determined. The main stages and key directions in the development of medical staff training have been revealed taking into account the global trends in public healthcare and medical education. It has been established that state measures in the area of reforms in the public healthcare system and medical education have allowed to gradually develop a staff policy for training of medical specialists since the late 1990s. It has been emphasized that the staff policy as a subject of research of the public healthcare institution during the difficult period of establishment of a market economy following the disintegration of the Soviet state makes it possible to identify the important aspects of the social history of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

This paper presents the experience of applying e-Technology to monitor student’s academic performance and as a means to enhance student’s motivation. The advantages of using e-Learning and interactive methods are described. We used educational e-content options to make the results of students’ academic performance available on-line both for students and teachers. This opportunity was enthusiastically accepted by all participants of the educational process. Moreover, this approach was relevant to the level of students’ information culture. The majority of students continued to use the Internet for educational purposes more actively. Furthermore, some students developed their skills in using e-Learning technologies.

Introduction Simulation based medical education is an increasingly popular pedagogical approach. It provides students with the opportunity to practice their clinical skills and decision-making through various simulation activities. The main purpose of medical simulation is to educate and improve patient safety. The aim. Presentation of the basic guidelines for the implementation of medical simulation methods in the education of nurses. The method. Non-systematic review of literature, based on a thematic selection of articles with a preference for the studies being systematic reviews of papers published in the last 13 years. Results.Based on the review of the literature on SBME covering the period from 1969 to 2003 and from 2003 to 2009 Mc.Gaghie and the co-authors present twelve features and best practices for effective medical education based on simulation. The authors of this study found them to be fundamental for the development of this method and for forming and improving medical competences. Summary.Medical Simulation in education is a very important step on the way of gaining key competences in team work and decision-making skills. It is also a complementary training to many methods and educational strategies, but it will not substitute the training in natural conditions of in-patient care and professional experience arising from this.

The article describes the experience of the organization of Olympiad in Internal medicine at the medical university for senior students and clinical residents. The paper presents the possibility of Olympiad in Internal medicine at the medical university is a modern educational technology that increases interest to the disciplines and motivation to professional development and formation of professional competencies. Such type of Olympiad helps future therapeutics to improve in their specialty and to form a personal reserve for the future work in the medical and research team, promotes continuity between students and postgraduate trainers in higher professional medical education.

Stepanovichus O. M., Rozhkovska N. M., Golubenko M. Y. Using role-piaying game in medical students clinical skills mastering during study the theme: "Counseling HIV infected patients". Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2017;7(1):346-349. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.267979 http://ojs.ukw.edu.pl/index.php/johs/article/view/4224 The journal has had 7 points in Ministry of Science and Higher Education parametric evaluation. Part B item 754 (09.12.2016). 754 Journal of Education, Health and Sport eISSN 2391-8306 7 © The Author (s) 2017; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 02.01.2017. Revised 16.01.2017. Accepted: 24.01.2017. UDK: 372.8:618.1/.2:061.3 USING ROLE-PlAYING GAME IN MEDICAL STUDENTS CLINICAL SKILLS MASTERING DURING STUDY THE THEME: "COUNSELING HIV INFECTED PATIENTS " O. M. Stepanovichus, N. M. Rozhkovska, M.Y. Golubenko Odessa National Medical University Odessa, Ukraine Abstract Providing better absorption and consolidate the clinical skills for medical students for counseling HIV-infected patients involves a learning process during the role-playing games, which will contribute to the promotion and improvement of mastering complex clinical material. Key words: medical university, medical education, role-playing game, HIV infection.

The paper discusses approaches to improving educational technologies in therapeutic disciplines taught at higher medical education institutes according to the basic curricula in Therapeutics (060101).