Family Medicine vs Community Medicine in Iran

In the early 1970s 15% of all Iranian Medical Graduates (IMG) left Iran and migrated to the United States(1, 2), while 50.000 villages in Iran had no health coverage(3). The initiation of the Department of Community Medicine in Shiraz Medical School was based on the gross misdistribution of health care facilities in Iran, when at the time 70% of population was residing in rural communities and almost 90% of all health facilities were concentrated in Tehran and larger cities (3). The main reason why Shiraz was among the institutions in Iran that initiated this endeavor was the fact that at the time, up to 90% of its medical graduates was deployed in Western countries, particularly the United States (2, 3).

Philosophy of medical education

Introduction: Education is defined as an art with scientific principle. It is described as a form of learning by which knowledge, skills and attitudes of an age group are transferred from one generation to the next through teaching, training, research and practice. Method: This is a historical review about the philosophy of medical education and its changes during the time. Results: It is unfortunate that many developing countries follow the US system rather than those with public financing pattern. Indeed, these systems are “disease care” and not “healthcare” and are mainly motivated by profit. Conclusion: The educational planners in medical schools must design a curricula for students and residents to acquire a crucial set of professional values and qualities, by which the willingness to put the needs of the patient and society first

Creation and Expansion Community Medicine in Iran

Abstract In 1972 a research was performed by the author at John’s Hopkins University, regarding migration of Iranian medical graduates in the United States. We found up to 90% of Shiraz medical graduate and 40% of Tehran graduate were permanently migrating to the United States. Further research indicates the cause of migration to be military housing, income and sociopolitical facts. Furthermore, we found the curriculum of most medical schools in Iran is a carbon copy of western medical schools and had no relevance with the need of over 70% of the Iranian population who were residing in rural communities in 1970s. In order to alleviate this, we established the department of community medicine in 1972 in Shiraz to modify the curriculum of the Shiraz medical school with an established and strong academic of clinical discipline was not an easy job, particularly when the medical staff was determined to make Shiraz a “center of excellence” and we in the department of community medicine felt we are desperate for a “program of relevance”. As I was a professor of both medicine and community medicine and the chairman of medicine was extremely friendly with our program. We could compromise and eventually we decided to embark on a new medical school with the totally new program. The new medical school, which was established in Fasa was a successful program for recreating students from a small town and we found recently 90% of graduates of the fist two years are still residing and practicing in Fars province. Unfortunately, later this medical schools was joined with all other medical school with the national matching program, which was against our initial purpose for recruiting from small towns. The other major achievement of the department of community medicine was establishing a health centers in rural community which was evaluated and approved by WHO and within eight years more than 1.5 Million rural populations were covered by that progra

Fasa University Medical School: a novel experience in medical education

Introduction: In early 1970`s a combination of a shortage and misdistribution of health services and growing public dissatisfaction about the health care available, along with increasing expectations, has put great strain on the mind of the staff of the Department of Medicine Shiraz University School of Medicine. The purpose of this report is to give an account of what was originally planned and what has happened since the start of Fasa Medical School in April 1978. Methods: This is a case report about an experience in medical education in Iran. At the time, two major problems were facing our country. The first was gross mal-distribution of these healthcare facilities, which were mostly concentrated in Tehran and big cities of Iran, and the second problem was continuous exodus of Iranian Medical graduates to the Western countries. Results: The main idea of creating Fasa Medical School was to create a system in which primary care in small villages are provided by VHW with the middle level health workers of “Behdar Roustaee” to be supported by local physicians who reside in small towns. Conclusion: For Fasa Medical School, education was emphasized on community based, student centered, and problem based medical education located in the community and based on teamwork and cooperation