Saint Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University

Coordinates: 59°58′39″N 30°20′25″E / 59.977447°N 30.340325°E / 59.977447; 30.340325

Saint Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University
Санкт-Петербургский государственный педиатрический медицинский университет
Former names
Leningrad Pediatric Medical Institute (LPMI), Saint Petersburg State Pediatric Medical Academy (SPbSPMA)
Type Public
Established 1925
Rector Dmirty Olegovich Ivanov
Students 5000
Location Saint Petersburg, Russia
Website www.gpma.ru

Saint Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University (Санкт-Петербургский государственный педиатрический медицинский университет), formerly known as St. Petersburg State Pediatric Medical Academy (SPbSPMA) is the first in the world[1] and the only medical school in Russia providing higher medical education with a specialization in Pediatrics.

The university is located in Saint Petersburg. SPbSPMA has a state license and accreditation to provide training in medicine according to the state standards.

In June 2005, under the support of Government of Russia, State Duma, Federation Council of Russia, Russian Rector's Union, the prize-winners of Golden Medal: European Quality competition in the nomination of Top 100 of Russian Universities were awarded. Saint Petersburg State Pediatric Medical Academy was honored with a golden medal. Rector of the academy Vladimir Levanovich was named The Best Rector of The Year 2004.[2]

There are four programs in the academy, leading to the Doctor of Medicine(MD) with a specialization in Pediatrics, Doctor of Medicine(MD), Doctor of Dental Medicine(DDM), and Master in Clinical Psychology degrees. Postgraduate training, providing the opportunity to get a PhD, is also available.

History

St. Petersburg State Pediatric Medical Academy (SPbSPMA), formerly known as Leningrad Pediatric Medical Institute (LPMI) is one of the leading schools of higher medical education of Russia and the oldest independent pediatric university in the world. It was founded in 1925[3] as the Institute for Protection of Maternity and Infancy. The main building of Academy was settled on the territory of City Children's Hospital, which started to receive first patients on May 25, 1905. The Children's Hospital was built as a series of separated pavilions to prevent spreading of infectious diseases.

The hospital project cost ended up with 1.7 billions in the currency of those days, and the hospital was rated as the best of Peterburg. K.А. Rauchfuss, V.N. Korovin, V.N. Raitz, famous Russian pediatricians, participated in planning and organizing of the hospital. There were 650 beds in the hospital. The huge staff, consisted of 28 physicians, 2 paramedics, 56 sisters of mercy, 2 masseurs, 232 nurses, 22 ward workers,6 workers of desinfection block, and 149 lower workers, was intended to provide the best possible care of sick children.

During the period of Russian Civil War(1918–1920) the hospital, as many others Russian medical institution, was neglected because of chaos and devastation in Russia. There was even a plan to close the hospital. Finally, the new government became aware of the issues of 20s years of last century (the huge amount of orphans and homeless children) and identified the problem of maternity and infancy as the most socially important. There was built a net of specialized departments and institutions of protection of maternity and infancy, devoted to learn causes of children and mother's morbidity and mortality, to develop a scientific basis for organization of treatments and prophylactics, and to prepare qualified medical specialists.

On January 7, 1925, the Scientific-Practical Institute of Maternity and Infancy Protection opened and had the name of Clara Zetkin. Upon this time, the structure of the institute was remodeled and included 11 clinical departments, a baby house, an infant house, the department to qualify children conditions, 3 clinics with up to 500 beds in each of them, an outpatient clinic, a children consulting center, and milk stations. The authors and organizers of new institute's project were famous pediatricians M.S. Maslov, A. Y. Goldfeld, Z.O. Mitchnik, A.L. Antonov, P.S.Medovikov, L.I. Erlikh, P.I.Lublinsky, A.V. Popova, the director of the institute V.O. Mochan, and many others. From the year of 1925 and till the year of 1949, the institute was headed by Yulia Aronovna Mendeleeva, a very talented initiator. She fell a victim of Soviet political repression in Doctor's Plot in 1949.[4] The chief of hospital was D.S. Tumarkin.

In 1928, the scientific work began in the institute. The first departments of science and the PhD department emerged. Later, the institute became the Scientific Research Institute of Maternity and Infancy Protection and kept this status till 1932. The newly created departments of Physiology, Social Hygiene of Woman and Child, Hygiene and Nutrition Science Early Ages, Pathology of Children, Roentgenology, Child Phthisiatry, Acute Child Infections got involved in intensive teaching and research activities.

In 1932 the institute was transformed into the higher medical educational institution- "the clinic-med school". The country struggled with getting enough qualified medical specialists, and the child mortality still remained high. The government had to expand a net of clinical and preventive institutions and to establish health care in houses and correctional institutions for orphans. Soon, the whole department of maternity and infancy protection with professors and students of the First Leningrad Medical Institute was transferred to the Pediatric Institute. 82 students were registered for the fall semester of their first year. In 1935 "the clinic-med school" was reorganized into Leningrad Pediatric Medical Institute (LPMI), the first in the world specialized medical school for pediatricians training. There was the first graduate class of 51 child doctors in 1936. Upon the beginning of WWII, the institute trained 530 and improved training of 300 physicians. There were somatic, surgical, infectious, neurological, tuberculosis, venereal, obstetric, gynecological departments in the institute. Special attention was paid to prevention of infectious diseases. The quantity of beds in the hospital approached 1215 in 1940.

Throughout all years of World War II, the institute continued clinical, research, educational and organizational work. The majority of faculty and clinical staff remained in Leningrad, surrounded by German troops. On the German military maps, the pediatric institute had a specific number of 708[3] and had to be vanished. On the territory of institute, surgical and infectious hospitals were opened to treat soldiers and citizens. The Siege of Leningrad captured more than 400 thousands of children, interrupting their evacuation. Many of those children survived only because of self-sacrificing work of Leningrad's pediatricians. To save lives of little citizens of Leningrad, there were created 18 baby formulas with soy, malt, and other components. Every day, the institute's milk station fed more than 8000 babies. The main theme of research work changed and became closely related to the wartime. Distrophic conditions in children, vitamins deficiencies, war traumas were studied, described in monographies and PhD works. There were opened classes with studying of blood transfusion, the system of "the only pediatrician", nutrition of healthy and sick children, and infectious diseases and classes of continuing education for state infection control and prevention controllers, district pediatricians, and school physicians. Two times a month, pediatricians of Leningrad visited clinical rounds. Moreover, the institute trained staff of factories for diseases control and prevention.

In the 50s, the institute increased quantity of applicants up to 600. Experience and knowledge of faculty members became a base of Russian pediatrics and were summarised in medical textbooks and monographies: Studies of Child, Diagnosis and Prognosis, M.S.Maslov's Textbook of Child Diseases and Handbook of Dietetics of Yearly Child Ages, A.F.Tur's Child Hematology, M.D. Danilevitch's Basics of Child Infections, G.A.Bairov's Urgent Surgery of Newborns, N.P.Shabalov's Neonatology.

According to the order of Ministry of Healthcare, the institute became Saint-Petersburg Pediatric Medical Institute in 1992 and then received a status of academy in 1994. Currently, the academy has 50 departments. More than 400 applicants become students of the academy every year. To the year of 2000, more than 25000 physicians graduated from SpbSPMA, including 2000 physicians from foreign countries. The training of foreign students started in 1949. More than 3500 physicians improved their qualification on the Faculty of Continuing Education. Now, the academy hospital is a multiprofile healthcare institution with 815 beds and contains 5 clinics of a somatic profile and 10 specialized departments.

Scientists of the academy have significantly influenced the development of basic science studies and clinical pediatric studies. The most famous of them were E.S.London in Pathophysiology; F.I.Valker, D.D.Lokhov, A.G.Knorre in Morphology; A.G. Gynecinsky in Physiology; B.M. Berman in Microbiology; E.F.Davidenkova in Medical Genetics; V.A.Valdman in Internal Diseases; N.N.Elansky, R.R.Vreden, A.A.Rusanov in Surgery; S.A.Novoselsky, V.V.Paevsky in Medical Demographycs; S.S. Mnukhin in Psychiatry; K.K.Skrobansky in Obstetrics; L.I.Tchulitskaya in Paedology.

There are several scientific schools in the academy, and they continue to develop:

List of rectors

In the postwar years:

1950-1960 Prof. Nina Timofeevna Shutova (проф. Нина Тимофеевна Шутова)
1960-1965 Associate Professor E.P.Semenova (доцент Е. П. Семёнова)
1965-1975 Prof. Gally Abgarovna Kaisar'iants (проф. Галия Абгаровна Кайсарьянц)
1975 -1984 Prof. Galina Alexandrovna Timofeeva (проф. Галина Александровна Тимофеева)
1984-1991 Prof. Vyacheslav Petrovitch Alferov (проф. Вячеслав Петрович Алфёров)
1991-1999 Prof. Mikhail Vasilevitch Nezhentsev (проф. Михаил Васильевич Неженцев)
1999 Prof. Valentina Ivanovna Guzeva (проф. Валентина Ивановна Гузева)
since 1999 Prof. Vladimir Victorovitch Levanovich (проф. Владимир Викторович Леванович)

Faculties

Currently, the academy has three faculties:

In 2005, the academy obtained a license to open a vocational education program, specializing in Dentistry. There are the preparatory department and the faculty of training and vocational retraining.

Major Teaching Affiliates

Teaching Affiliates

Education

Education is conducted in Russian for Russian students and English for foreign students. The university had an option for English speaking students to study in English but that was however cancelled about 6 years ago . But now a days university start again this program for foreign students. SPbSPMA is recognized by the World Health Organization and included in the World List of Medical Schools WHO in 1965.[1] SPbSPMA is listed in the International Medical Education Directory (IMED). The academy has a high status among pediatric medical schools. SPbSPMA offers a medical school diploma, postgraduate training, further training for physicians and faculty members, postgraduate training in various specialties, and training opportunities for graduated and pursuing postdoctoral degrees physicians.

The education is provided by the Faculty of Pediatrics at the Faculty of Medicine and continues 6 years. Medical students spend the first three years of training studying science, biomedical, liberal, and disease-preventive disciplines. The educational program includes all subjects required by any Russian medical school. The unique trait of education at SPbSPMA is paying close attention to the ontogenetic features in medical science studies. Moreover, students receive an extensive laboratory training in human anatomy, general chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, histology, physiology and pathology .

From the first courses of training at the Academy, students have access to their patients. They practice integrated interdisciplinary approach to study interpenetrated fundamental science courses and clinical subjects.

Using the most advanced methods and technology, students learn classical techniques of manipulation with real objects. They sample tissues for histological research, prepare corpses to refine surgical skills in the courses of normal anatomy and operative surgery, work with laboratory animals for experiments in the courses of pathological physiology, pharmacology, etc. The Academy Library has 700000 volumes and has many reading rooms. In the main building complex of academy, there are 20 educational, clinical and administrative buildings over the area of 60000 m². Students of their third year of education begin to explore introductory courses of Internal Diseases, Surgery and Pediatrics. In addition to general diagnostics and semiotics, the basic skills of the doctor, much attention is paid to the peculiarities of development, nutrition and behavior of healthy children. Successfully finishing the third year and passing summer clinical practices, students obtain the qualification of student nurses ("the honey brother").

In the fourth year of education, students undergo advanced training in Internal Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Surgery, Pediatrics, Child Surgery, Infectious Disease of Adults and Children, and other disciplines. Students spend their fourth and fifth years in clinical rotations on the basis of leading health care institutions of the city of Saint Petersburg and its region.

The Children's Hospital of the Academy is the largest in Russia and is also used as the primary clinical base for pediatric disciplines. At fourth and fifth courses students study classical clinical cases within the Faculty courses of Internal Diseases, Surgery and Pediatrics, with emphasis in the etiology, diagnosis and pathogenesis of diseases. In total, these courses are provided within 72 weeks of clinical rotations and 9 weeks of lectures and examinations.

After the fourth year of training at the Academy, there is a 6-week summer practice in Internal Diseases and Surgery. After the fifth year, students spend 4 weeks of summer practice as an assistant of Pediatrician in an outpatient pediatric clinic. The entire sixth year of study is devoted to in-depth studies of entire range of Internal Diseases, Surgery and Pediatrics. Students study the individual manifestation of the most important diseases through a multiple number of clinical cases. The future medical doctors gain an extensive practice in a differential diagnosis of diseases and pay particular attention to their prevention and treatment.

The sixth course includes 37 weeks of classes and 3 weeks of state exams. The final state certification is conducted by the special State Committee, according to the Russian federal standards and norms for medical universities. Also, the academy guarantees the opportunity to continue training in clinical internships in more than 20 residencies for selected medical specialties and get into the postgraduate school at the department with a theoretical profile.

Currently, SPbSPMA trains more than 3000 students.[1] Academy graduates receive comprehensive health education to practice Medicine as general practitioners, medical specialists, including pediatricians, and medical researchers. Approximately 60% of graduates work in various areas of Pediatrics, the remaining 40% work in "adult" medicine or in experimental medical research. The academy conducts extensive research work. The main attention is focused on the normal development of organism and pathology within an age aspect. Medical students, being members of student scientific associations and academic societies, also participate in research.

Many pediatricians are graduated from the former (Leningrad Pediatric Medical Institute (LPMI) - SPbSPMA. Many physicians of other specialties are emerged from the walls of the academy. Also, for many decades, the academy is an international center of higher medical education. Over the past half century, several thousands of foreign students from 70 countries and from 4 continents have graduated from the Pediatric Academy. Currently, students from over 50 countries are training here. Applications to the SPbSPMA are considered without regard to race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, handicap, political beliefs, and presence of diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation. Also, there is a special annual preparatory department for foreign applicants where they can learn Russian language and have introductory courses in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics.

To be admitted to the academy, every applicant must pass three competitive exams in Russian language, Biology, Chemistry.

The academy has 4 dormitories. The best of them has built as apartments/flats. There are local libraries, kitchens, bars and cafes, classrooms, reading and sports halls, etc. in dormitories. All graduates of the Academy have equal rights in relation to the recognition of their diplomas in all countries. Academy graduates are licensed for medical practice in Russia and outside of it and are currently engaged in medical practice in different areas of medical activities in over 70 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America and Australia and even in Antarctica. Several thousand MDs, the academy graduates practicing in Arab countries, Israel, Canada, the U.S. and other countries, maintain relations with their Alma mater, SPbSPMA.

See also

References

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