The institutionalisation of military medical education in Russia in the period from the second half of the 17th century to the 1930s

Abstract

This article looks at the institutionalisation of military medical education in Russia. The ongoing reforms to Russia’s armed forces have made the history of military medical education highly relevant. The reform process is complicated, and turning to history can help to avoid potentially serious mistakes: studying the experiences of previous generations helps to identify patterns in the development of a particular process. The author examines the institutionalisation of military medical education as a process involving the establishment of its main components: clinical training and the specifically military components of the education received by future military doctors. The article shows that the clinical component was established through the introduction of clinical training, with clinical subjects taught in stages, and an effective system of testing students being put in place. The military component was established through expanding the scope of the military medical subjects taught in the curriculum, and military doctors being given legal status as officers with full authority in terms of the management of the military medical service. When these components had been fully established, in 1936, this meant that the institutionalisation of military medical education in Russia was complete.