Pathology of General Practice Curriculum from the Viewpoint of Students and Professors

Based on the needs of the health system, continuous revising and monitoring are essential for General Practice (GP) Curriculum. The present study was conducted to investigate the diseases of GP Curriculum based on the students' and professors' viewpoints.

This cross-sectional study was carried out at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences in 2018. A total of 80 GP students of internship and 71 professors of the faculty of medicine in clinical and basic science disciplines were enrolled in the study using quota and convenience sampling methods, respectively. Two self-made, reliable, and validated 4-point scale questionnaires (ranging from totally agree to totally disagree) were used to collect the data on the viewpoints of students and professors on the diseases of GP curriculum. The mean score and percentage of agreement between professors and students on the incidence of each disease were calculated.

The highest and lowest rates of agreement between the professors and students in terms of the presence of curriculum diseases belonged to the echolalia curriculum with a mean and standard deviation of 1.92±0.68 and the dean denial with a mean and standard deviation of 2.0±6.68, respectively. The results showed a statistically significant difference between the viewpoints of professors and students regarding the diseases of the carcinoma of the curriculum (P<0.001), idiopathic colitis (P<0.001), the schizophrenia of the curriculum (P=0.01), and echolalia curriculum (P=0.01).

The present study showed that professors and students were all in agreement about 12 out of 13 diseases of the GP curriculum. Thus, educational planners in Iran's medical schools should focus on the continuous evaluation and the necessity of curriculum revision, as one of the priorities of the educational system.