The Challenges of the Implemented Curriculum of the Basic Sciences Course of Iranian National General Medicine Program from the Students' Point of View

In order to identify the challenges and shortcomings of the basic medical sciences course based on the Iranian national curriculum, and to offer proposed solutions to solve possible problems, the implemented curriculum was reviewed by the learners.

This study was conducted by program evaluation method in Isfahan Medical School, Iran, during the first semester of 2019-2020. Participants in this study included 76 students of basic science course of the national entrance program, starting their education from October 2017 or later, purposefully selected from students interested in education and with a grade point average of above. With structured group interviews, 61 lessons were examined. All interviews in the form of guidance, were recorded, handwritten, and typed. Then, it was analyzed by quantitative content analysis (percentage and frequency).

A total of 35 courses, including 6 in first semester, 7 in second semester, 8 in third semester, 9 in fourth semester, and 5 in fifth semester, faced challenges for the students. A total of 176 initial codes were extracted. Finally, 131 codes were obtained, which were placed in 4 main domains and 36 components. The main categories included design with 6 components, implementation with 15 components, student evaluation with 5 components, and professional behavior with 6 components. The highest frequency of challenges was in the implementation of theoretical courses (92 lessons) which included 43.2% of the courses.

Nearly half of the basic science courses in the National General Medicine Program faced challenges for students. The most frequent challenge was in the implementation of theoretical courses. Lack of a complete course plan in the category of design, disproportionate volume of content with class hours in the category of theoretical courses, inadequacy of equipment and tools in the category of practical courses, failure to handle student protests in the category of student evaluation, and finally liquidity and inflexibility in the category of teacher professional behavior was the most challenged by students.