The experiences of Persian medicine students of Iran University of Medical Sciences in ambulatory education: a qualitative study

Clinical education is one of the most important parts of training courses in the field of medicine and studies show many challenges in this field. This study was conducted to find the experiences of Persian medicine students in the field of ambulatory education in Iran University of Medical Sciences.

This qualitative study was conducted in 1400 using a content analysis approach. The Ph.D. students of Persian medicine were selected using a purposeful sampling with maximum diversity, and their experiences from ambulatory training were collected using a semi-structured interview method. Finally, the text of the conducted interviews was read several times and subjected to content analysis.

After interview with 15 students and saturating the data, three main categories including "educational program", "teaching methods" and "educational facilities" were identified. The main issues were related to educational planning and the characteristics and ability of teachers in teaching.

The experiences of the students showed that the educational program and objectives of the ambulatory education need to be improved, so that in order to manage common diseases, in addition to enriching the theoretical period, more patients should be introduced and discussed in the practical period in the presence of teachers. Also, more variety of patients, unification of diagnosis and treatment methods of teachers and optimization of the clinic environment are necessary.