More than 80 interested in information about the Resident Programme met on March 30 in the Congress Hall of the Slovak Republic, where the Information Day of the Slovak Medical University on the Resident Programme was held. Most students of medicine of the fourth and fifth edition of the Faculty of Medicine of the Slovak University of Medicine and Medical Faculty of SZU discussed with the guarantors of the Slovak University of Specialization in General Medicine and Pediatrics, coordinator of the project team of the Slovak University for the Resident Programme, as well as with the main expert of MZ SR for General Medicine Monika Paluška on selection criteria, advantages and responsibility arising from participation in the Resident Programme. The focus of the Resident Programme is to support further training of health professionals in specialization fields of general medicine and paediatrics. The Resident Programme responds to the lack of general practitioners and pediatricians in the regions, with the aim of reducing their age average, improving education in general medicine and paediatrics, and increasing the quality and availability of healthcare in primary contact. A successful pilot project was funded by the European Union in 2014 and 2015 and confirmed that this form is an effective tool for complementing and stabilising doctors in both specialization fields. This project continues in 2016, from the state budget EUR 7.4 million is allocated to residents from the whole Slovak Republic, including the Bratislava Self-Governing Region. The contracts are signed with three medical faculties - Jesseni Medical Faculty Martin, Faculty of Medicine UPJŠ Košice, Slovak Medical University Bratislava. The program is intended for graduates of medical faculties, doctors enrolled in specialization studies in general medicine and paediatrics, doctors enrolled in study in another specialization field who decide to change the specialization field. The highest age limit for inclusion in the resident programme is 40 years, another essential criterion remains the interest to work in one of the two specialization fields in Slovakia.
