The need to review medical education

With the establishment of Jundishapur Medical School, the Iranians created a revolution in medical education in the world. In this place, by combining theoretical and scientific education, students learned the principles of medicine in the bed of patients. With the decline of this college, medical education gradually changed and was done more theoretically than practically. This practice continued for centuries in the East and West until the nineteenth century, when Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the United States revived it. The four leading physicians, Halster (surgeon), Ausker (internal medicine specialist), Kelly (gynecologist), and Walch (knowledge specialist), founded the university in a new way, namely theoretical training and A practice in the bed of patients, which was basically the same method as the Iranians. Many medical schools around the world have followed this method and modified their old methods. Modern medical education in Iran began first in the Academy of Arts and then with the establishment of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Tehran in 1313. Gradually, the number of medical schools and medical students increased. In these centers, too, efforts were made to pursue medical education theoretically and practically. Students spend several years learning the theoretical principles of medical science, and for several years they receive practical training in hospitals and medical centers. But in the last two decades, the international community has made many changes in medical education. For example, instead of relying on classrooms and methods in which the student is passive and plays the role of listener, it has tried to provide education in the form of patient presentation. In this method, the student plays an active role in his education, for example, the patient’s history is presented and the student has the opportunity to study and research about it before class and students and professors about the patient and methods of diagnosis and treatment. A group argues. In this method, the student gets acquainted with the method of studying and researching the patient’s problems from different angles. This method, in addition to strengthening the scientific view of medical knowledge in the student. Various studies have shown that this method is much more theoretically useful than teacher teaching in the classroom. Practical training in the patient’s bedside should also be reciprocal between the professor and the student, and the medical student should experience the required training in the patient’s practice. But theoretical and practical training alone is not enough. Medical science is a science that is directly related to human beings and in this respect it is completely different from other sciences. Therefore, medical education should be accompanied by humanities education such as psychology and personal and social communication. Unfortunately, new methods of medical education have not yet found their place in our medical schools. At present, theoretical education is the main pillar of medical education in the country’s colleges. This issue is not limited to general medical education and can be seen in specialized and sub-specialized courses. Although there are practical trainings, but for the advancement and promotion of education and career, this theoretical training and the scores resulting from these tests, which plays the first role in all stages. This has led to an over-focus on memorization among students and assistants. In educational levels, this is the score that the owner decides. Therefore, practical training has received less attention. Medical students are more inclined to theoretical and memorization classes than to practical programs. The medical profession is a practical profession that, in addition to theoretical knowledge, requires practical skills in order to be able to use these archives practically on the patient’s bedside to diagnose and treat the patient. In the practical training of physicians, it is necessary to teach the student how to deal with the patient, its diagnosis and treatment by emphasizing the theoretical principles of medical science. This causes the student to become an informed, hard-working, honest and professional doctor after completing his / her course. Of course, these are all skills that need to be practiced even after completing the course to become perfect in the individual. But its principles must be institutionalized in the individual during medical education. Unfortunately, in our country’s educational system, these issues are not paid much attention and the most important owner of students’ evaluation is the scores of theoretical medical issues. This has caused students at all levels to pay too much attention to theoretical issues and pay less attention to practical issues. The result of this method in the future will have negative consequences for physicians and society. The educational system should be transformed in such a way that in addition to paying attention to the individual’s theoretical archives, it also emphasizes their practical skills such as practical and clinical work and human relations with patients and evaluates these points. Society needs physicians who, in addition to mastering the theoretical foundations of medical science, are able to diagnose and treat the patient’s bedside while preserving human dignity and values.
Dr. Reza Saidi Firoozabadi – Transplant Surgeon