Analysis of the working group of the Ministry of Health regarding the passing of the international examination on the fundamentals of medicine (IFOM) by students of medical universities.

The working group of the Ministry of Health has conducted an analysis of the International Fundamentals of Medicine (IFOM) examination. Due to numerous and large-scale violations of integrity norms and exam rules, the success of IFOM 2019 will not affect the fate of students. All students who took the exam and were not involved in violations must be transferred to the 4th year.

On August 12, 2019, a meeting of the working group of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine was held, which included representatives of universities whose students had the largest number of correct answers, namely Ternopil National Medical University, Lviv National Medical University, National Medical University named after Bogomolets, as well as Uzhhorod National University.

"Members of the working group of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, which analyzed the success of the international exam on the basics of medicine-2019, confirmed that the introduction of this exam had a significant impact on the vision of the development of medical education by all subjects of the educational process - both the university administration and the students themselves. Taking into account the dishonesty of individual students and significant shortcomings in the administration of the exam, the working group came to the conclusion that the grades for IFOM 2019 will not affect the fate of students," said Oleksandr Linchevskyi, Deputy Minister of Health.

The working group considered the scope of the impact of numerous violations of the norms of integrity and rules of the examination, recorded during the examination on July 1-3 of this year. Due to an unprecedented number of violations, in particular, the disclosure of part of the test tasks on the first day of preparation and their distribution among students who took the exam on July 2 and 3, the working group reached the following conclusions:

– All students who appeared and took the test on July 1-3 must be transferred to the 4th year and continue their studies;

- Students who were found to have violated the norms of integrity and the rules of conducting the exam, in particular taking photos of test tasks and distributing them in public access, are recommended to be dismissed from universities;

- Those students who did not appear for the exam are those who did not pass. Such students will be given the opportunity to retake the exam during the next academic year. Those students who did not appear for the exam for good reasons will have the opportunity to take the international exam on the basics of medicine for the first time next year.

"The international exam is a tool of independent evaluation, and therefore makes corruption impossible. The working group emphasized the need to consolidate independent assessment as an integral part of the Unified State Qualification Examination. This means that the era of selling doctor's diplomas in Ukraine has come to an end. Ukrainian patients deserve an honest, decent, highly qualified doctor, not a swindler in a white coat," emphasized Oleksandr Linchevskyi.

The experience of IFOM in 2019 will be used by universities in the future. Experts confirmed the correlation between the number of correct answers of students and the proactive position of universities in adapting plans and programs to international standards, and providing adequate support to their students to prepare for the exam.

As you know, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, together with the Testing Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, presented an analysis of the scores of the international exam on the basics of medicine (IFOM), which medical students took for the first time as part of the Unified State Qualification Exam. The most authoritative international certification agency in the world, the National Board of Medical Examiners (NMBE, USA), compiled the test and checked its success.

A total of 10,099 students made IFOM, which is more than 77% third-year students.