Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 Assistant Professor of Medical Prasitology and Mycology, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences
2 Assistant Professor of Biostatistics, Community Medicine Dept., Zanjan University of Medical Sciences
3 General Practitioner, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences
Abstract
Background: Practical training of medical students is not limited to only hospitals Outpatient departments and ambulatory care centers attending a greater number of patients can provide students with more exposure to a variety of medical cases Moreover communityoriented medical education centre where more patients come for consultation is a suitable centre for training medical students Although awareness toward the importance of communityoriented medical education is increasing and medical faculties have already adopted this approach for their training this idea does not appear to be accepted fully in all of schools Objective: To find the attitude of Zanjan Medical students and teachers towards education and facilities in COME centre in 20042005 Methods: In this descriptive study two separate questionnaires for teachers and students were designed to assess their attitudes towards the method of education number of patients situation of centre and the quality of education in the Communityoriented Medical Education centers The questionnaires were filled out by 136 interns and externs who had been trained in COME centre and 14 teachers in Zanjan Medical University Validity of questionnaires had been confirmed and internal consistency reliability had been determined by Cronbachs alpha coefficient (079) Results: In whole 669% of the students and 538% of the teachers were interested in attending COME program and most of them believed that COME is necessary for medical education The percentage of interns who agreed with this center was more than externs In regard to the teachers educational method the highest satisfaction rate (832%) was obtained for teachers in the pediatrics ward (p=00005) In regard to the number and variety of patients pediatrics ward (with respectively 717% and 656%) was the best and internal ward (with respectively 207% and 215%) was the worst ward according to the students The overall satisfaction rate was 519 ± 125 in students and interns had a more positive attitude comparing to others Discussion: It seems that using more experienced teachers continuous supervision and evaluation of educational activities establishing proper research facilities and financial support of COME centers are necessary for improving communityoriented medical education
Keywords
)