University of Zagreb

School of Medicine

Continuing Medical Education

• The continuing medical education includes all forms of postgraduate training organized at the School of Medicine outside of regular postgraduate studies.
• Attendees can be doctors of medicine and other specialists who perform health care activities.
• The continuing medical education organized by our School includes: courses, lectures, work group meetings, seminars, individual training, consultations, clinical visits and conferences, printed, video and computer methods of education, as well as other forms of imparting knowledge and information.
• "Continuing Medical Education is a necessity, and an ethical and moral obligation" (from the document of the European Association of Medical Specialists, UEMS)
• In Croatia, the continuing medical education is a legally prescribed obligation, since doctors are obligated to renew and supplement their knowledge in order to renew their licence to work.
• All forms of continuing medical education are subject to quality control. This control is organized by the Continuing Medical Education Committee, and confirmed by the Management Board.
• The inclination of our School is that in the time to come, a significant part of continuing medical education will be conducted online.

Programme

• The continuing medical education programme at our School is the product of an effort to improve postgraduate medical training and make it available to as many participants as possible.
• The continuing medical education programme includes two groups of courses. One is continuous improvement courses organized individually by clinics, institutes or departments. The second group consists of selected courses of scientific postgraduate studies, so-called branch-oriented courses that the School has decided to open to students who are not full-time postgraduate students. This means that anyone interested can attend the selected course individually as a continuing education course, i.e., can join the full-time postgraduate students.
• The programme takes place in these basic forms:
  • Category I Postgraduate course – knowledge acquisition course with examination
  • Category II Postgraduate course – renewal of knowledge
  • Individual education
  • Other forms of education

Examination

• Category I courses and individual education courses must end with an exam, and if necessary, other forms of education also end with an exam. The exam is conducted in the form prescribed by the Regulations on Continuing Medical Education.
• The exam is taken before an examination board of three members. Two members of the examination board are appointed by the course leader or mentor, and one by the Continuing Medical Education Committee.

Points

• In addition to knowledge, which is the ultimate goal of attending the course, the course participant acquires points awarded by the Croatian Medical Chamber and which serve to renew the work permit under the Health Care Act. The number of points is determined by the Regulations on Continuing Medical Education and is awarded by the Continuing Medical Education Committee of the Croatian Medical Chamber.
• The participant also acquires a certain number of points according to the ECTS system (European Credit Transfer System). This scoring is applied in the postgraduate study for the recognition of attended classes, i.e., the evaluation of scientific and professional activities outside the organized classes of the postgraduate study. In other words, the participants of continuous improvement courses also acquire (in accordance with the category of the course) points that they can use during their postgraduate studies.

Information about admission to continuous medical education courses can be found here.