Medical education in Georgia

Abstract

Since 1991, there have been significant changes in medical education in Georgia. Key changes include adapting national legislation toward international standards, establishing the National Center for Education Quality Enhancement (NCEQE), which was recognized in 2018 by the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) as an accrediting agency and opening the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) International Networking Center in 2019. Undergraduate medical education, regulated by the Ministry of Education, Science and Youth of Georgia, spans six years. MD graduates then have options for further career paths, including working as junior doctors, residency, and/or pursuing PhD research.

The main challenges the country presently faces are:

1. the need to reduce the increasing number of (mainly) private medical schools. Recent updates to the national standards for undergraduate medical education have imposed stricter accreditation requirements for MD programs, resulting in the closure of schools that fail to meet these standards;

2. postgraduate medical education is governed by the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia (MOH) and needs further reform due to limited and paid residency positions;

3. continuous professional development (CPD) was optional until recently, which led to an increase in professional inaccuracy and malpractice cases. To address this, regulatory bodies, including the MOH and professional associations, are preparing the legal basis for introducing compulsory CPD.

Keywords:

• Undergraduate
• postgraduate
• medical education
• CPD

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Salome Voronovi

Salome Voronovi, MD, AFAMEE Salome is Co-Head of AMEE International Networking Center in Georgia; Deputy head of Faculty Development and Strategic Planning Department at Tbilisi State Medical University. She has 10 years teaching experience. She is also higher education accreditation expert at National National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement.

Gaiane Simonia

Gaiane Simonia, MD, PhD, AFAMEE Gaiane is Professor of Internal Medicine, Head of the Department of Geriatrics, Head of the Department of Faculty Development and Strategic Planning at Tbilisi State Medical University and Head of AMEE International Networking Center in Georgia.

David C.M. Taylor

David C.M. Taylor, David is a Fellow of AMEE and is a Professor at Gulf Medical University, Ajman, UAE, where he is the Director of the Center for Leadership and Innovation in Health Professions Education, and the AMEE international networking center for the Middle Eastern Region.