Medical education in times of war: a mixed-methods needs analysis at Ukrainian medical schools.

BACKGROUND: As Ukraine struggles with the education of healthcare professionals due to the war, we aimed to identify the specific effects of the war on medical education, the resulting needs, and the expected consequences for schools, faculty, staff, students, and the healthcare system. METHODS: In October and November 2022, we performed a survey of students, faculty, and staff of medical schools in Ukraine and conducted semi-structured interviews with faculty leaders (i.e., rectors, vice-rectors). We conducted a descriptive analysis of the survey's closed-ended questions. The survey and the interviews included open-ended questions about war-related restrictions to teaching and learning, resulting needs, and expected consequences, for which we applied a thematic analysis. RESULTS: We received 239 survey responses (N = 49 faculty and staff, N = 190 students) and conducted nine interviews with faculty leaders across Ukraine. Most survey participants indicated that they had experienced restrictions or changes to their work or study due to the war (86% of faculty and staff, 69% of students). From the thematic analysis of the survey and interviews, we identified eight themes: disruption of teaching, increased workload, mental stress, financial restrictions, non-war related needs, international cooperation, quality of education, and prospects of future professionals. The quality of healthcare education in Ukraine was threatened, and schools, faculty, staff, and students were under great strain. While already established international cooperation has been supportive, some needs have still not been addressed. CONCLUSIONS: We hope that our findings will help researchers and educators from abroad contribute to meeting Ukraine's needs in medical education.

Clinical and spirographic features of bronchial asthma in schoolchildren depending on the different regimens of basic anti-inflammatory therapy.

OBJECTIVE: The aim: To study the clinical and spirographic features persistence of the bronchial asthma in schoolchildren against the background of the alternative daily doses of inhaled corticosteroids to increase the effectiveness of anti-inflammatory therapy for this disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: A complete comprehensive clinical-paraclinical examination of 65 schoolchildren with persistent asthma was conducted. According to the average daily dose of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) the patients were divided into two clinical groups. The first (I) group consisted of 46 children who received ICS in the regimen of low-to-medium equipotent doses (253.95±9.98 µg per day), and the second (II) comparison group was formed of 19 patients who controlled the pBA using high doses of ICS (494.74±5.56 µg per day). RESULTS: Results: The patients of the І clinical group compared to patients of the ІІ group have a higher risk of the mild bronchial obstructive syndrome during asthma attacks. In assessing the level of control of persistent bronchial asthma using the CIA-scale, it was found that in II group cases of the controlled course of the disease were observed almost two times less than in children of the I group of comparison. In conducting spirography in children of comparison groups, it was shown that the ratio of indices of bronchospasm (FEV1/FVC) was worse in patients receiving high doses of ICS. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: So, сharacteristic clinical feature of asthma controlled by high doses of ICS is more severe nature of bronchial obstructive syndrome during the period of exacerbation (OR=1.9-3.0). In the management of persistent bronchial asthma, the Gensler index which has high specificity (94.4%) and accuracy (92.2%) should be used for disease control verification.