The State Non-Profit Enterprise Testing Board for Professional Competence Assessment of Higher Education Trainees in Medicine and Pharmacy at the Ministry of Public Health of Ukraine (in short – the Testing Board) is a State Non-Profit Enterprise, entrusted by the Ministry of Public Health of Ukraine with the function of external control over the education quality provided to the future healthcare professionals and assessment of its compliance with the higher education standards, which is done via the administration of standardized testing in the form of “Krok” Integrated Exams.
The Testing Board:
- administers “Krok” Exams for the specialties included in the “Healthcare” branch of knowledge;
- is the first specialized certifying organization in Ukraine and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) that applies science-based methods of standardized testing at the national level;
- was founded in 1999 in collaboration with the experts from the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) and certifying organizations in the USA (NBME) and Canada (MCC).
The Testing Board has successfully implemented over 10 international projects initiated by the USAID, European Commission, George Soros' Open Society Foundations, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other international foundations.
Based on the decision reached by the 8th International Conference on Medical Education (“Ottawa Conference on Medical Education”, 2000), the Ukrainian Licensing Examination Program was recommended as an adoptable model for the other countries that implement their own licensing exams. The Testing Board at the Ministry of Health of Ukraine was acknowledged as a unique organization in the Eastern Europe.
Our goal
Protecting the people from unqualified healthcare professionals.
Our values
Civilizational (worldview)
Human life is the ultimate value. From the ethical point of view, doctors must possess exemplary moral character, because human lives depend on them. The norms of ethical conduct are inseparable from the professional training of the future doctors.
Professional
Objective and fair assessment, based on the modern technologies, is the driving force of education development.
Personal
Development of the personality traits that align with the professional and worldview values of the organization.
The Testing Board employs full technological cycle for the Medical Examination Program, which includes:
- scientific research and assessment;
- development of the test-based exams;
- maintenance of the test item database;
- administration of the test-based exams;
- scanning and scoring;
- statistical analysis;
- result interpretation and drawing-up of reports;
- maintenance of the Certified Professionals Register.
The Testing Board designs, develops, and prepares tests and other tools for collecting and processing information, including the scanning forms and software for each stage of the technological cycle, as well as procedures and report forms for a variety of purposes, such as:
- assessment of students’ skills and knowledge;
- diagnostics of the educational process quality;
- professional certification and licensing;
- human resources selection and employment;
- qualitative and quantitative research.
Photo album: 20 years of the Testing Board
On January 15, 1999 Andrii Mykhailovych Serdiuk, the then Minister of Health of Ukraine, signed Decree №7 for the founding of the Testing Board for Professional Competence Assessment of Higher Education Trainees in Medicine and Pharmacy.
It is this date that marks the beginning of the development of the Ukrainian national system, aimed at the professional competence assessment of healthcare workers in compliance with the global best practices.
See the photos that document the landmarks of the Testing Board history in the album: