Assessment of Satisfaction with Knowledge and Practical Skills in the Discipline “Otolaryngology” of Graduates of the Specialty 222 “Medicine” and Interns of the Specialty “Otolaryngology”

One of the main tasks in the health care system is the improvement of personnel policy. The qualification of the healthcare workforce is one of the most important components of ensuring the quality of medical care, along with their effective distribution, appropriate number, age structure, and motivation to work, in line with the medical needs of the population. The objective: to assess the level of undergraduate training in the discipline “Otolaryngology” by graduate persons of the specialty “Medicine” and interns of the specialty “Otolaryngology”. Materials and methods. During the study it was determined whether graduates and interns were satisfied with the duration and scope of the training program in the discipline “Otolaryngology”, the level of knowledge and practical skills in otolaryngology obtained at the undergraduate level, and also analyzed the respondents’ desire to improve their knowledge and practical skills after completingh teir studies. 174 graduates of higher education institutions of Ukraine and 103 interns who studied before internship in nine different higher medical educational institutions took part in the study. The respondents were quite young people: the average age of graduates was 22.4±2.3 years, interns – 23.6±1.9 years. During the analysis, sociological, medical-statistical, analytical, generalization, graphic research methods were used. Results. It was found that only 51.1% of graduates were satisfied with the level of theoretical knowledge, 62.1% – with the level of practical skills, 25.6% and 14.0% of graduates were partially satisfied, respectively, and 23.3% and 23.9% persons were dissatisfied, respectively. Only 37.4% of interns were satisfied with the level of theoretical knowledge, 15.9% – with the level of practical skills, partially satisfied – 9.1% and 27.7% of these respondents, respectively, dissatisfied 33.5% and 56.4% of interns, respectively. Data differences in both groups were significant (p < 0.05). All respondents had a desire to improve their knowledge and skills in otolaryngology, most of them – in emergency conditions and inflammatory diseases. Conclusions. The results of the study showed a low level of readiness to provide high-quality medical care in the conditions of real clinical practice by graduates of higher education institutions and interns, which indicates shortcomings in the organization of training and control of knowledge in this discipline at specialized departments and clinical bases.