Health professions education in Serbia: evaluation and measures for quality improvement through experiential education, interprofessional education, and

Background/Aim. Health professions education is facing emerging issues. A comprehensive situation analysis was performed among academic staff, healthcare practitioners, and healthcare science students to address and respond to new trends. The aim of the study was to investigate the attitude, perception, and the recognized needs towards experiential education (EE), interprofessional education (IPE), and teaching competencies development (TCD). The critical evaluation of the existing quality standards for further quality improvement in health professions education in Serbia was provided.Methods. The survey on EE, IPE, and TCD was conducted within the Reinforcement of the Framework for Experiential Education in Serbia (ReFEEHS) project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ program of the European Comission at four Serbian universities (the University of Belgrade, the University of Kragujevac, the University of Nis, and the University of Novi Sad). Four task groups were appointed to perform a desk review of the existing curricula, recommendations, and practices within each of the four health professions education (Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry, and Nursing) in Serbia and assess the level of compliance with relevant educational policies and practices in the European Union .Results. A total of 1,507 respondents completed the survey. A highly expressed positive attitude was found towards EE, IPE, and TCD among all the respondents. The majority of the respondents