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Vol. 9, Issue 12

Volume 9, Issue 12

Pages 1–9

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CPD

Continuing Professional Development in Ukraine: 2025 Update

Oleksii O. Tymofieieva, ... Kateryna Melikovad more
a Oleksii O. Tymofieiev

Doctor Stomatologist-Surgeon, PhD, ScD, Professor, Head of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Kyiv Medical University, Private Higher Educational Establishment, Kyiv, Ukraine. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3191-6025

b Ievgen I. Fesenko

Doctor Stomatologist-Surgeon, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Kyiv Medical University, Private Higher Educational Establishment, Kyiv, Ukraine. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8901-1632. Correspondence: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery of Kyiv Medical University, Private Higher Educational Establishment, 2 Boryspolska Street, Kyiv 02000, Ukraine. E-mail: y.fesenko@kmu.edu.ua.

c Olena O. Serha

Doctor Stomatologist-Surgeon, Head Teacher of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Kyiv Medical University, Private Higher Educational Establishment, Kyiv, Ukraine. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1796-989X

d Kateryna Melikova

Doctor Stomatologist-Therapeutist, MSc, Assistant Professor, Department of Therapeutic Dentistry, Periodontology and Pediatric Therapeutic Dentistry, Kyiv Medical University, Private Higher Educational Establishment, Kyiv, Ukraine. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-5755-3329

Published December 31, 2025

J Diagn Treat Oral Maxillofac Pathol 2025; 9: 100313.

DOI: 10.23999/j.dtomp.2025.12.100313  

Under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE

Tymofieiev OO, Fesenko II, Serha OO, Melikova K. Continuing professional development in Ukraine: 2025 update. J Diagn Treat Oral Maxillofac Pathol. 2025 Dec;9(12):100313. https://doi.org/10.23999/j.dtomp.2025.12.100313

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to translate the updated criteria for awarding continuing professional development (CPD) points to the healthcare workers. Also, this paper compares the criteria specifically for publishing articles between the 2019 and 2025 Orders of the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine (i.e., Orders No. 446 and No. 650). This translated document is an update to the 2024 publication.Points will be awarded for publications in periodicals that have been included in the scientometric databases Scopus and/or Web of Science Core Collection, or in scientific publications included in the list of scientific professional publications of Ukraine.

KEY WORDS

Continuing professional development (CPD); CPD points; criteria for awarding CPD points; healthcare workers, article

1. INTRODUCTION

Continuing professional development (CPD) of healthcare workers in Ukraine continues to evolve [1, 2]. And in April 2025, a new Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine Order was issued, which changes the criteria for awarding CPD points [3]. The purpose of this article is to translate the updated scoring criteria and compare the criteria for awarding CPD points specifically for publishing articles between the 2019 and 2025 Orders [1, 3].

2. DISCUSSION

Below will be listed the Order Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine that has lost its validity and the current Order.

 

2.1 Legislation

 

No longer valid

 

  • Order of the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine of February 22, 2019, No. 446 “Some issues of continuing professional development (CPD) of doctors” (as amended by Order of the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine of August 18, 2021, No. 1753).

 

Valid

 

  • Order of the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine of April 16, 2025, No. 650 “On approval of the Procedure for conducting certification of healthcare workers and amending certain orders of the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine.”

  • Order of the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine of May 08, 2019, No. 781 “On approval of the Regulation on peer groups.”

 

2.2 Key Information

 

It is important to emphasize two points of the new Order, namely points 3 and 4:

 

(3) Until June 30, 2025, the annual amount of CPD points for healthcare workers is accrued in accordance with the criteria for accruing CPD points set out in Appendix 4 to the Procedure for Conducting Certification of Doctors, approved by Order of the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine dated February 22, 2019 No. 446, registered with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on March 25, 2019 under No. 293/33264 (as amended by Order of the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine dated August 18, 2021 No. 1753) [1, 3].

 

(4) From July 1, 2025, the annual amount of CPD points for healthcare workers will be accrued in accordance with the criteria for accruing CPD points set out in Appendix 6 to the Procedure for Conducting Certification of Healthcare Workers, approved by Order of the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine of April 16, 2025, No. 650 “On approval of the Procedure for conducting certification of healthcare workers and amending certain orders of the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine” [3].

 

In general, if we compare the 2 orders, the previous and the new one, it is worth noting the following. Appendix 4 to the Order No. 446 (i.e., previous order) lists 10 criteria for awarding CPD points [1]. In contrast to Order No. 446, Appendix 6 to the Order No. 650 lists 18 different criteria for awarding CPD points (Fig 1 and Table 1) [3].

FIGURE 1A. Criteria for awarding continuing professional development (CPD) points according the Appendix 6 to the Procedure for Conducting Certification of Healthcare Workers (A-C) [3]. In Ukrainian. 

FIGURE 1B. Criteria for awarding continuing professional development (CPD) points according the Appendix 6 to the Procedure for Conducting Certification of Healthcare Workers (A-C) [3]. In Ukrainian. 

FIGURE 1C. Criteria for awarding continuing professional development (CPD) points according the Appendix 6 to the Procedure for Conducting Certification of Healthcare Workers (A-C) [3]. In Ukrainian. 

In the new Order, as in the previous one, the biggest number of points is awarded for the defense of the dissertation [1-3]. In the new Order, as in the previous one, the largest number of points is awarded for the defense of dissertations, namely 100 points for the defense of a dissertation for the scientific degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and 150 points for the defense of a dissertation for the scientific degree of Doctor of Sciences (ScD) [3, 8].

 

In the previous Order, the least number of points, namely 1 point, could be awarded for the professional development by distance learning using electronic educational resources [1, 2]. In the new order, the lowest possible number of points is 0.5 points per 1 hour for professional internship outside the institution where the employee works [3]. Also, 0.5 points per 1 hour is awarded for participation in an event such as a conference, etc.

A new interesting criterion for scoring points in the new order is participation in peer group activities [3, 8].

 

2.3 Analysis of the Criteria Related to the Publication of Articles

 

Quite interesting changes have occurred in the criteria for publishing articles. There is a convergence of standards with the requirements of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine for scientific professional publications and the division of journals into categories A and B [4].

 

The criterion from the Order that lost its validity indicated the following: 20 CPD points were awarded for publication of an article or review in a domestic journal with an impact factor or 30 CPD in foreign publications in the official languages of the EU [1, 2, 5, 6]. The supporting document was a bibliographical reference.

 

In the new Order, the publication of articles is essentially divided into three criteria (Fig 1C and Table 1):

 

  1. Publication of an article or review (except for a clinical case) in periodicals that have been included in the scientometric databases Scopus and/or Web of Science Core Collection.

  2. Publication of an article or review in scientific publications included in the list of scientific professional publications of Ukraine.

  3. Publication of a clinical case in periodicals that have been included in the scientometric databases Scopus and/or Web of Science Core Collection, or in scientific publications included in the list of scientific professional publications of Ukraine.

 

According to the new order the supporting document is a copy of publication.

TABLE 1. Translated Criteria for Awarding Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Points According the Appendix 6 to the Procedure for Conducting Certification of Healthcare Workers (Clause 5 of Section IV) of the Order of the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine of April 16, 2025, No. 650 “On Approval of the Procedure for Conducting Certification of Healthcare Workers and Amending Certain Orders of the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine” [3].

TABLE 1. Continued

TABLE 1. Continued

Compared to the previous order, there is a narrowing of publication requirements. Along with positive aspects, such as raising the standards of authors when submitting manuscripts to journals indexed in Scopus and/or Web of Science Core Collection, there are also a number of negative state and economic aspects, such as discrimination against journals that have not yet turned 2 years old for submitting an application to Scopus or that have not yet received the status of a scientific professional publication of category B.

 

It is also worth noting that the new Order establishes that:

 

1) the certification of healthcare workers shall be resumed six months from the date of termination or cancellation of martial law [3, 9, 10].

 

2) the validity period of specialist certificates (specialist doctor, pharmacist/specialist pharmacist)/qualification category certificates that expired during the period of martial law shall be extended for the period of martial law and for six months from the date of its termination or cancellation.

3. CONCLUSION

The new Order of the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine clearly demonstrates the evolution of the updated criteria for awarding continuing professional development points to the healthcare workers and has a significant expansion of possible options for publishing articles with the accrual of the appropriate number of points. Points will be awarded for publications in periodicals that have been included in the scientometric databases Scopus and/or Web of Science Core Collection, or in scientific publications included in the list of scientific professional publications of Ukraine.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

REFERENCES (10)

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