Objectives. To identify possible pedagogical conditions and methodological techniques of effective teaching influence on the increasing of the cognitive activity and independence (CAI) of students while acquiring and deepening their knowledge in topographic anatomy and operative surgery. Scientific analysis of psychological, pedagogical literature and personal experience shows that the problem of improving the forms and methods of educational work aimed at the increasing of the CAI of students in the process of studying the discipline is always before the teachers. While solving it, there are certain difficulties that many teachers associate with a low level of secondary education obtained, the complexity of the material studied, the admission to the university by means of testing, laziness of students, etc. The experience of the methods used and analyzed by the author shows ample opportunities for improving the cognitive activity of students, taking into account their individual interests and abilities to accumulate professional knowledge. Attention is paid to the implementation of a practice-oriented approach in teaching in combination with a systematic, creative, research, individual one, etc. to ensure the proportionate development of students’ theoretical and practical level of knowledge. A certain range of components of the conditions and factors of the educational process, in which there will be a close, bilateral, interested and productive educational activity of a student and a teacher, promoting the achievement of high educational results is shown.

During the period of the 1950s and 1960s, higher medical education occupied one of the key positions in the health care system of the BSSR. After overcoming the medical and sanitary consequences of the Great Patriotic war and restoring fixed assets, the BSSR health care system faced further challenges to increase the amount of medical institutions and the number of doctors, and to improve the quality of providing medical care to the population. All these and many other tasks could not be solved without the comprehensive assistance of higher medical education. The purpose of the study is to show the key stages of the development of higher medical education in the BSSR in the field of practical health care in the 1950s and 1960s. The research was carried out on the basis of archival data stored in the collections of the National Archive of the Republic of Belarus, the State Archive of Vitebsk Region, scientific and historical literature from the National Library of the Republic of Belarus, the Vitebsk Regional Library named after V. I. Lenin, as well as information already introduced into scientific parlance. Special historical methods were used in this study: historical-genetic, historical-comparative, and historical-systemic.

In March 2020 I was in the Ulm University Clinic for 2 weeks. My internship course took place on the basis of the department of general and visceral surgery. The work in the clinic is structured in such a way that not only surgeons but also doctors of the adjoining specialties, trainees and students participate in the discussion of patients’ treatment. And at the morning conferences, a resuscitator, a radiologist and an endoscopist must always be present. The operating unit has all necessary equipment in sufficient quantity. Preoperative preparation is carried out by the anesthetic team in the preoperative room. A special role is given to the patient’s thermal isolation using special blankets, protection of the patient’s eyes with a patch, and perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis. In addition to the operating surgeon and two main assistants, the operating team obligatorily includes a student. Continuous training by senior surgeons of junior ones is practiced. Basic surgical instruments are represented with everything you need. In the postoperative period all drugs are charged into infusion machines at a daily dosage, which simplifies the work of paramedical personnel and also reduces the risk of catheter infection. When entering a medical university the competition is initially very high (more than 20 people per place). All doctors work in a unified team, there is no strict division into university chairs and clinic departments. Two weeks spent in the Ulm University Clinic have shaped my understanding of medical care and medical education in Germany, acquainted me with the specificity of the surgical service and the technical features of performing surgical interventions.