Development Strategies in Medical Education

Introduction: In order to meet the social accountability, the Minimum capabilities of general practitioners in Iran have been developed by the Council of general medical education. The aim of this study was to evaluate medical interns and family physicians regarding Minimum capabilities of general practitioner by self-evaluation.

Methods: This descriptive cross sectional study was performed on family physicians and interns of Jahrom University of Medical sciences in 2011. From the forty participants, 20 interns were selected by census method, and 20 family physicians by simple random sampling. Data gathering tool was a Valid and reliable questionnaire containing 83 items in 8 areas including health promotion, clinical and communication skills, practice procedures, attitudes, medical ethics and Legal Responsibilities, information technology, basic sciences, research and personal development. The results were analyzed using independent T-test of SPSS 16.

Results: The mean age of family physicians was 30.7; 45% were male. The mean age of interns was 24.5 and 80% were female. The capabilities of family physicians were evaluated strong except in the area of research that was average. The ability of using Internet was evaluated strong, except in the areas of research, personal development and information technology that were average. Comparing capabilities of interns and family physicians in the eight areas using independent t-test, showed that except in the field of research (P value=0.19), there was a significant difference (PValue <0/05).

Conclusion: Improve the ability of medical students in the field of information technology, research, personal development and lifelong learning is essential.