Teaching history of medicine at Russian medical schools: past, present, and future.

Teaching history of medicine at Russian medical schools has a long tradition. It always reflected the general political situation in the country. The present program has been approved by the Ministry of Health 10 years ago. History of medicine is an obligatory subject taught at the first or second year of medical school. The course usually has 40 hours, equally split between lectures and seminars, and the program is focused on Russian medicine. Here we analyze the existing textbooks on the history of medicine and their drawbacks (ideologization, inventing of national priorities in medical discoveries, and avoiding the 20th-century medicine). To improve teaching of the history of medicine, longer courses and written exams are needed. There is also an evident need of writing a new textbook on the history of medicine.