UT and NEMC to jointly advance the training of current and future doctors
The University of Tartu and the North Estonian Medical Centre entered into a cooperation agreement on 29 May 2014 with the primary goal to ensure the progeny of doctors and to develop the field of medical science and health care in Estonia as a whole.
Joel Starkopf, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine said that one of the motives of the agreement was the wish to fulfil the national mission of the faculty of medicine and to offer an internationally competitive medical education in Estonia, i.e. an experience of high-quality practical training prior to entering the field’s labour market.
So far, the primary practical training centre of medical students has been the Tartu University Hospital where modern teaching and research activities are tightly connected to top-level medical activity. “Thanks to the cooperation agreement signed between the University of Tartu and the medical centre, the practical training opportunities for students will be significantly extended in Tallinn, where the North Estonian Medical Centre will become a strategically important studying base in the organisation of pre-diploma medical training practice as well as the practical studies during residency.”
According to Andrus Remmelgas, Member of the Board and chief doctor in the North Estonian Medical Centre, nearly 50 medical students do their medical practice and over 100 young doctors complete their residency in the medical centre in a year. “The number of patients being treated for different illnesses in our hospital and the number of highly qualified specialists create good opportunities for students to acquire an area of specialisation and to train young doctors,” said Dr Remmelgas and noted that the medical centre provides every opportunity for the use of modern technologies in treatment procedures.
“The extension of opportunities for practical training and the greater involvement of practicing doctors in teaching will certainly raise the quality of medical studies and will ensure the sustainability of the education we provide,” found Starkopf, emphasising the high level of competence and qualification of the doctors in the North Estonian Medical Centre.
In addition to furthering higher education in Estonia, the medical centre and the university also contribute to projects in the field of research and development and the realization of the innovation strategy. The researchers and teaching staff of the university and the doctors of the medical centre can mutually exploit each other’s infrastructure and research bases for the purpose of diverse transmission of knowledge and joint research activity.
The aim of the UT’s Centre of Continuing Medical Education and the North Estonian Medical Centre’s training centre is to further cooperation also on the planning and execution of in-service training of doctors.