Educational Needs Assessment for General Practitioners in the Field of
Neurological Diseases in the Regulatory Zone of Rafsanjan University of
Medical Sciences, Iran
Background & Objective: Regarding the significance of neurological diseases, training general
practitioners has a key role and they should be well-trained in diagnose and approaching different
diseases in this field. We focused on educational needs assessment for general practitioners in the
field of neurological diseases.
Methods: All the general practitioners practicing in the regulatory zone of Rafsanjan University of
Medical Sciences, Iran, (urban and rural areas), who agreed to participate, were entered the study.
104 participants of the total of 170 general practitioners in this area completed a researcher-made
questionnaire and mailed us. The questionnaire encompassed 54 neurological diseases, four
paraclinical tests and 9 approaches for neurological signs and symptoms, as well as their practical
framework, satisfaction from their education, and demographic and educational items.
Results: In 47.9% of cases, educational expectations were at the level of screening and refer, in
that 31.4%, at the level of diagnosis and treatment and in 18.8%, at the level of acquaintance and
describing. The remainders (1.88%) were the cases with no need to know and unfamiliar ones.
Statistically, screening and refer, just the diagnosis, and the treatment were the mentioned
educational expectations, respectively. Most of general practitioners were not fully satisfied from
their externship and internship educational programs.
Conclusion: This study, in a more systematic way, outlines the general practitioner’s points of
view and their tendency to intervene in the procedure of neurological managements which can also
be of great use to any further modifications in medical training curricula. Absence of perfect
satisfaction about educational programs shows us that we should change our educational methods
to more practical and clinical forms.
Key Words: Educational needs, Neurological diseases, General practitioner
