Educational potential of the history of medicine: optimisation of interdisciplinary relations

The article explores problems of teaching the history of medicine in medical institutions of higher education, its role in professional socialisation of future doctors and in shaping value attitude towards the chosen occupation. The history of medicine is currently going through a new phase of its development. It is associated with representatives of humanitarian knowledge who engage the research field of this discipline and profound transformations in the subject matters. The article highlights the transition from studying great discoveries in medicine and famous doctors’ biographies to processes of functioning of medical knowledge and ideas among nonprofessionals based on analysis of different sources. Close attention is paid to changes in the curriculum brought by a new Federal State Educational Standard because it worsened the consistency of presented material and reduced the amount of time allocated to the study of some themes. The author emphasises the necessity for developing new curricula and methodology in the history of medicine by optimising interdisciplinary ties.