About GMJ Academy

An academy built on a journal’s standards

GMJ Academy is the structured-learning arm of the Georgian Medical Journal (GMJ), an independent, peer-reviewed, open-access journal published by the Public Health Institute of Georgia (PHIG). Where the journal publishes and appraises evidence, the Academy translates that evidence into courses that practitioners can apply at the bedside, in the clinic, and across the health system.

Our work is grounded in the same editorial discipline that governs the journal: claims are sourced, content is reviewed by subject-matter experts, and material is kept current as international guidance evolves. We design for the learner’s time — concise, well-structured courses with explicit learning objectives and knowledge checks, free of filler.

Evidence first. Editorial integrity. Respect for the learner’s time.

Part of a public-health ecosystem

GMJ Academy does not stand alone. It is part of a connected ecosystem developed under PHIG to move knowledge from the published record into professional practice and public understanding — in both English and Georgian.

What we teach

The Academy’s courses concentrate on the disciplines that determine whether care is safe and trustworthy: healthcare quality, patient safety, and patient rights. Programmes are organised into structured tracks — from foundations of quality and safety, through medication safety, infection prevention, and safe procedures, to governance, equity, and workforce well-being — and are designed to support continuing professional development.

Each course is developed around internationally recognised standards and current World Health Organization guidance, then expressed in plain, applicable terms so that busy professionals can learn at their own pace and put the material to use immediately.

Our standards and approach

Course content is informed by the global frameworks that define modern quality and safety practice, including the WHO Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021–2030, the standards of the Health Standards Organization and Accreditation Canada, and the publication and research-ethics norms set out by the ICMJE and the Declaration of Helsinki. References are listed below so that learners and partners can trace every claim to its source.

Leadership and governance

GMJ Academy is led by the editorial team of the Georgian Medical Journal under Editor-in-Chief Prof. Giorgi Pkhakadze, MD, MPH, PhD, and operates within the governance of the Public Health Institute of Georgia. PHIG maintains the institutional independence, ethical oversight, and standards alignment that underpin both the journal and the Academy.

Accreditation and partnerships

PHIG works with international accreditation bodies to align its education and quality programmes with recognised standards:

• Accreditation Canada — partnership supporting quality and patient-safety standards alignment.
• Accréditation Sans Frontières — collaboration extending recognised standards work across borders.

References

1. World Health Organization. Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021–2030: towards eliminating avoidable harm in health care. Geneva: WHO; 2021. Available from: who.int/teams/integrated-health-services/patient-safety
2. World Health Organization. Patient safety [fact sheet]. Geneva: WHO. Available from: who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/patient-safety
3. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. ICMJE. Available from: icmje.org
4. World Medical Association. WMA Declaration of Helsinki — Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Participants. WMA. Available from: wma.net
5. Health Standards Organization. Standards for quality and patient safety. Ottawa: HSO. Available from: healthstandards.org
6. Accreditation Canada. Accreditation programs (Qmentum). Available from: accreditation.ca
7. Directory of Open Access Journals. DOAJ. Available from: doaj.org
8. UEMS — European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME). Available from: uems.eu
9. Creative Commons. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Available from: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0