Development of the Olympiad Student Surgical Movement at the N. N. Burdenko Voronezh State Medical University

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One of the most important components in the preparation of a future doctor of a surgical profile is the deep development of manual skills by him. Historically, it is at the Department of Operative Surgery with topographic Anatomy (OHsTA) that future surgeons, traumatologists, urologists, obstetricians-gynecologists, etc.begin to master the practical basics of their chosen profession. During the training sessions at the department, 3rd – 4th year students get acquainted with surgical instruments and the principles of its application, study the clinical and anatomical justification for the most common and fundamental surgical interventions, and then proceed to perform them on cadaveric material or laboratory animals. It is obvious that many students at this stage of their studies at a medical university decide to link their further professional activities with surgical specialties.
However, the duration of training at the Department of OHSTA, as a rule, is limited to two semesters, and for the formation of manual skills, future specialists of the surgical profile require constant systematic training work. In this regard, it is natural that such students have a need to work with biological material and laboratory animals outside the framework of the educational process. For many years, this problem was solved thanks to the work of student scientific circles of the departments of OHSTA [1]. A lot of good surgical specialists in Russia have come out of the circle members of such departments [2, 3]. At the same time, it should be noted that the work within the framework of the student scientific society (SSS) pursues, first of all, the goal of activating the research activities of students and increasing the level of their theoretical knowledge. This is due to the gradual stratification of active circle members into two categories. Students of one of them prefer theoretical training and strive for a scientific or teaching career, while others are more inclined to master practical skills and prepare themselves for work in surgical clinics. That is how the beginnings of the Olympic surgical student movement gradually appeared in the depths of the student scientific circles of the departments of OHST.
The culmination of this process was the holding of student Olympiads in surgery. The first such event was held in 1988 at the First Sechenov Moscow State Medical University, and then the Olympiad quickly won its audience and adopted the format of an annual one. To the credit of the organizing committee of the Olympiad, its development has never stopped, the format has constantly changed, the number of participants and competitions has increased. Every year, more and more new universities, students joined the cohort of "Olympians". As a result, in 2010, the XIX Moscow Olympiad became All-Russian, in 2013 it was named after Academician M. I. Perelman, who made a huge contribution to the development of the student surgical movement, and in recent years, individual teams from near and far abroad began to take part in the Olympiad, i.e. it received the status of an All-Russian with international participation.
The modern format of the Olympiad involves preliminary semi-finals for Federal Districts (each of them involves from 5 to 15 teams) and the final, which includes the best two teams from each semi-final [4] and which is held on the basis of the First Sechenov Moscow State Medical University. It is no exaggeration to say that thousands of students who have decided to link their lives with the surgical specialty are waiting for these competitions in Russia (and are preparing for them). For many of them, participation in the Olympiad remains one of the brightest moments during their entire time at the university, because it gives an opportunity not only to compete in the surgical art, but also to communicate with colleagues from other cities, exchange experience and make new friends [5].
At the Burdenko VSMU, the Olympic Student Surgical Movement was born in 2008, when several members of the circle, accompanied by associate professor of the Department of OHST Yu. V. Maleev, went to Moscow to participate in the surgical Olympiad. At that time, the team still had no experience of participating in such competitions, the guys came to the tournament almost without preliminary preparation. Our Olympians were not able to win prizes at that time, but they brought new experience and a new idea to the Alma Mater. Thus, the first brick was laid in the building of the Voronezh Olympic Student Surgical Movement.
In November 2009, a team of more than 20 active students who were engaged in the Department of OHsTA (Captain M. Cherenkov) was already assembled to participate in the International Student Olympiad on the technique of Surgical Operations held on the basis of the N. I. Pirogov RNIMU. Unfortunately, the guys again lacked experience, and the team did not achieve great success. However, this relative failure prompted the staff of the department to think about the need for more active development of the Olympic student surgical movement at the university. There was an idea to start systematic work on teaching students manual skills outside the framework of the training program. Systematic training of team members gradually turned into a routine task for the staff of the department. Thanks to this, already in the next academic year, a permanent Olympic team was formed from active students and circle members, which, under the guidance of teachers of the department, conducted training in intestinal, vascular and skin sutures, endoscopic surgery, as well as tracheal intubation.
Since 2010, the Olympic student surgical team of the N. N. Burdenko VSMU, headed by Captain K. Ovchinnikov, and later V. Maslenikov, became a permanent participant of the All-Russian Student Olympiad in Surgery (photo 1), and the Olympic student surgical movement continued to develop steadily, which became possible thanks to the efforts of not only the staff of the Department of Operative Surgery with topographic anatomy, but also leading specialists of other departments of surgical profile. A certain kind of recognition of the merits of the Voronezh team was the decision to hold in 2013 the qualifying stage of the Central Federal District of the XXIII All-Russian Student Olympiad in Surgery on the basis of the Voronezh State Medical Academy named after N. N. Burdenko, which took the baton from the Kursk State Medical University in the year of its 95th anniversary. The serious attitude of the university to the holding of this event was emphasized by the fact that the organizing committee of the Olympiad was headed by the rector of the academy, prof. I. E. Esaulenko, and all the heads of departments of surgical profile, heads of the SSS and the students ' trade union committee became members of the organizing committee (photo 2). The basis for the Olympiad was the Department of Operative Surgery with topographic anatomy (head of the department, prof. A.V. Chernykh) and the Center for Practical Training of Specialists (head-Associate Professor S. N. Boev). Most of the organizational issues were supervised by Associate professor of the Department of OHSTA V. A. Bolotskikh. This event was a serious test for the university, as more than 300 students and accompanying teachers from 16 medical universities and medical faculties of the Central Federal District of Russia took part in it.
In each nomination, the authoritative jury consisted of at least half of nonresident teachers. The competitions were held in a hard struggle for two days and ended with a well-deserved victory of the Voronezh team (captain-R. Moshurov) (photo 3). The second place was taken by the team of the Kursk State Medical University, and the third-the team of the First Moscow State Medical University named after I. M. Sechenov. After the completion of the Olympiad program, many participating teams warmly thanked the organizers of the Olympiad for the high level of its holding and the warm welcome in Voronezh.
The results of the participation of the N. N. Burdenko VSMU team in that Olympiad, on the one hand, showed the correctness of the chosen course for the development of the student surgical movement in Voronezh, and, on the other hand, inspired the children to seriously prepare for the final of the XXIII Moscow (All-Russian) Student Olympiad in Surgery, which was held in April 2014 on the basis of the First Sechenov Moscow State Medical University. It was attended by students from 21 universities in Russia and the CIS countries (Ukraine, Belarus). Our team was represented by 27 students of 3-5 courses, and was headed by Captain R. Moshurov. The permanent inspirers of the Olympic movement - associate professors of the Department of OHSTA Yu.V. Maleev and V. A. Bolotskikh participated in the judging from the VSMU. Our team showed a very high result in a tense struggle, sharing the third place with the First Pavlov St. Petersburg State Medical University. The success of the Voronezh team was appreciated at all levels, and the guys wrote their names in the history of their native university (photo 4).
Since then, the Olympic team has become a second family for Olympic students, and training at the OHSTA department did not stop even in the summer. This made it possible in December 2014 to take the prize again in the qualifying stage of the Central Federal District of the All-Russian Olympiad (this time in Ryazan) and made it possible in the spring of 2015 to take part in the final of the XXIV Moscow (All-Russian) Student Olympiad in Surgery with international participation named after M. I. Perelman. This time, the team also showed a decent result, winning prizes in a number of separate categories, although it was not among the winners in the team competition.
However, time does not stop. In 2015, a generational change came and the students who had previously won many bright victories finished their studies at the university, continuing it already at the postgraduate stage, and the guys who replaced them could not immediately maintain the high level of their predecessors. As a result, in the fall of 2015, our team was unable to qualify for the final stage of the All-Russian Olympiad.

About the authors

Alexander Vasilyevich Chernykh

Voronezh State Medical University named after N.N. Burdenko

Email: chernych@vrngmu.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-6281-0020
SPIN-code: 8444-7010

д.м.н., профессор, кафедра оперативной хирургии с топографической анатомией

Russian Federation, 394036, Russia, Voronezh, Studentskaya str., 10

Alexander Anatolievich Glukhov

N. N. Burdenko Voronezh State Medical University

Email: glukhov-vrn@yandex.ru

M.D., head of the Department of General and Outpatient Surgery, N.N. Burdenko Voronezh State Medical University

Russian Federation, Voronezh, Russian Federation

Artem Nikolaevich Shevtsov

Voronezh State Medical University named after N.N. Burdenko

Email: shan-87@yandex.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8641-2847
SPIN-code: 5647-9491

к.м.н., доцент, кафедра оперативной хирургии с топографической анатомией

Russian Federation, 394036, Russia, Voronezh, Studentskaya str., 10

Asiyat Abdulnasirovna Magomedrasulova

Voronezh State Medical University named after N.N. Burdenko

Author for correspondence.
Email: asiyat15062015@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3158-1480
SPIN-code: 7263-2267

ассистент, кафедра оперативной хирургии с топографической анатомией 

Russian Federation, 394036, Russia, Voronezh, Studentskaya str., 10

Anton Vladimirovich Neverov

Voronezh State Medical University named after N.N. Burdenko

Email: shares-dm-noreply@google.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-8106-2574
SPIN-code: 6820-2353

ассистент, кафедра оперативной хирургии с топографической анатомией

Russian Federation, 394036, Russia, Voronezh, Studentskaya str., 10

References

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