On the 100th anniversary of the Medical School of Saint Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University (1924–2024)

The construction of the Soviet system of maternal and infant health care (MIH) in the first
years of Soviet power and the organization of institutions for women and children on an unprecedented
scale required first of all qualified workers in this field. The special MHI Institutes created in our country
in the 1920s, including the Leningrad MHI Institute (1925, since 1935 — Leningrad Pediatric Medical
Institute, LPMI, now — the St. Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University, SPbSPMU), among many
urgent tasks, put the training of a new type of worker in relation to new social conditions in one of the
first places. The successful implementation of this task by the Leningrad MHI Institute was due to the
fact that the organizers of the Institute V.O. Mochan, A.N. Antonov, Z.O. Michnik, P.S. Medovikov et al.
were well acquainted with the problems facing the MCH system, they were the ones who initiated the
creation of institutions for mothers and children, the development of forms and methods of their work,
the organization of various courses for training specialists in this field. The article dedicated to the 100th
anniversary of the St. Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University (1925–2025) and the 100th anniversary
of the Medical School at the university (1924–2024), presents the history of training of mid-level medical
personnel for maternity and infancy care institutions at the university, previously known only in general
terms. This work is based on a study of documents stored in the Central State Archives of St. Petersburg
(TSA SPb) and the State Archives of the Russian Federation (GA RF), as well as in the funds of the
Museum of the History of SPbSPMU. For the first time, a number of sources and facts were introduced
into scientific circulation, the analysis of which made it possible to clarify the chronology of the process
of training of mid-level medical personnel for the work in MCH institutions, its organizational forms,
terms and training programs. It has been established that a number of changes have taken place in the
system of organizing the training of nurses at our Institute, due to both government and local health
authorities decrees, and changes in the status of the Institute. The training of nurses began in 1924, even
before the official opening of the Institute for the Protection of Motherhood and Infancy (1925), when
the first courses for MCI nurses began to function, with training conducted at the K. Marx Medical
College (general training, 1st year) and at the Institute (2nd year, specialization in MCI). From January
to September 1927, the training of nurses was carried out at the technical school organized at the MCI
Institute. After its closure, the training of nurses was again transferred to the K. Marx Technical School
on the same basis, i.e. with the MCI course at the Institute. In 1932, the formation of the “Hospital —
Medical University” association on the basis of the Institute of OMM led to the creation of a Medical
College with a 3-year training period for nurses. In 1936–1962, after the organization of the Leningrad
Pediatric Medical Institute, its own School of Nurses functioned on its territory, and from 1962 to 2003 —
a Medical School at LPMI. The training of nurses did not stop during the Great Patriotic War and the
siege of Leningrad. In addition the Institute periodically organized retraining courses for nurses for
children’s institutions. During the period from 1924 to 2003, the Technical School — School — College
and various courses organized at the Institute site trained more than 20,000 nurses. In 2024 the year of its
100th anniversary the Medical School at the St. Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University resumed its
work training mid-level medical personnel for pediatric institutions. Its opening took place on August 30,
120 first-year students were admitted to the 1st year course.