The Internet Center of Distance Education on Antimicrobial Chemotherapy in Russia - The Terms of the Distance Education Course on Antimicrobial Therapy

	The First Internet Center of Distance Education The First Internet Center of Distance Education
	on Antimicrobial Chemotherapy in Russia on Antimicrobial Chemotherapy in Russia

The Terms of the Distance Education Course on Antimicrobial Therapy

The terms of admission

The following people are admitted to the course: health care specialists, post-graduates, registrars and interns, i.e. all the people who have higher medical of pharmaceutical education, including the graduates from the sanitary-hygienic departments of medical institutions of higher education or the graduates from sanitary-hygienic institutions of higher education, irrespective of the place of residence (CIS countries included).

The modes of education

The education is distant.

Students may choose one of the two possible modes of education, depending on their access to the Internet:

On-line working in the Internet for the students who have full access to the Internet.
Working via e-mail for the students who do not have full access to the Internet but have the opportunity to use e-mail.

The course begins as soon as all the necessary documentation (the contract, the copy of the diploma, payment documents) is processed and a group of 5-7 students is formed.

The fees and the terms of payment

Education fee depends on status of person (juridical, natural), residence and based on individual agreement. For additional information please contact website@antibiotic.ru.

The payment for the education is made before the beginning of the course and guarantees the certificate award only in case the educational program is fully completed and the intermediate and final examinations are passed successfully. The student may choose not to take the final examination. In this case the education fee is reduced by 20%, but the student is not awarded with the certificate upon finishing the course. The student can be expelled for the systematic violation of the time of his test paper submission and the absence at the final examination without any valid reason. There is no repayment if the student finishes the course of studies before it is over either by his own will or because he was expelled from the course on the grounds of non-fulfillment of the curriculum.

The course of studies lasts 5 months.

Every student will have one tutor. Once during the course the tutor may be changed due to the student's will. The interaction with the tutor will be carried out in several ways:

–	the individual correspondence with the tutor via e-mail according to a certain rules (the tutor answers the student's questions only 2 days a week, the number of questions the student is allowed to ask on one topic is limited)
–	sending out informational materials and the correspondence with the whole «virtual» study group with the help of e-mail address book
–	on-line tutorials if the student has such an opportunity

The educational program

The program is divided into 3 levels:

Level A -	the general principles and aims of antimicrobial therapy, the introduction into Clinical Pharmacology, basic terms and notions in Clinical Pharmacology, the notion of evidence-based medicine, the classification of infectious pathogens, the modern methods of detecting antimicrobial resistance in pathogens, the types and mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance.
Level B -	the general characterization and classification of antibiotics, the characteristics of some groups of antibiotics.
Level C -	the antimicrobial therapy of upper and lower respiratory track infections, urinary tract infections, gastrointestinal tract infections, nosocomial infections, bacterial endocarditis, tuberculosis; the peculiarities of antimicrobial therapy in elderly patients, the therapy peculiarities in case of nephritic and hepatic deficiency, pregnancy and breast-feeding, neutropenia and diabetes; the prophylactic use of antimicrobials.

During the course the student studies several topics, after each of them he is offered self-check tests. Every level is divided into several sections upon finishing which either a «tutorial» or a test is held. The number of attempts to pass the post-sectional test is not limited. According to the student's will he may be transferred to the next section of the same level even after the first failure in the post-sectional test. Upon finishing the level the intermediate check of the acquired knowledge will be performed (in the form of tests or practical tasks). The number of attempts to pass the intermediate check is limited to three. Both the post-sectional test and the intermediate check will be conducted on-line (even for those who use the second educational mode, i.e. via e-mail). If the student shows perfect knowledge while passing post-sectional tests, he/she may be exempted from the intermediate check after finishing the level. The time of studying a separate level is limited. According to the student's will, he may take the intermediate check before the due time. In exceptional cases the intermediate check may be postponed for some time. The structure of a distance education course is represented here.

If the student uses a computer not at home but at work or at an educational institution, he may have some organizational difficulties in using the computer during the course of studies (the time of tests and tutorials may fall onto holidays, days-off, etc.). In this case the student should foresee such a possibility while working out the individual curriculum and talk it over with his tutor.

The final examination (interview/test) for the certificate will be held in the student's personal presence in one of the cities in Russia or the CIS (Velikie Luki, Vladivostok, Ekaterinburg, Moscow, Nizhniy Novgorod, Pskov, Ryazan, Saint Petersburg, Smolensk, Tomsk) according to the student's choice.

The documentation upon finishing

After finishing the course and passing the final examination successfully health care specialists get official certificates stating the fact of having improved their knowledge in the field of antimicrobial therapy on the basis of the Smolensk State Medical Academy (144 studying hours). In case of unsuccessful results in the final examination, expelling the student or choosing the form of education without the final examination the student is not awarded with the certificate.