Developing an integrated organ/system curriculum with community-orientation for a new medical college in Jazan, Saudi Arabia

Jazan province m located in the south-west of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, The province is offlicted with a wide spectrum of diseases and therefore have a special need for more health services. The Faculty of Medicine at Jazan has been following the traditional curriculum since its inception in 2001 The traditional curriculum has been criticized because of the students inability to relate what they learned in the basic sciences to medicine, thus stifling their motivation. It was felt that much of what was presented in preclinical courses was irrelevant to what the doctor really needed to know for his practice. The College therefore, decided to change to an integrated curriculum. The study wm conducted in 2004-2005 in the Faculty of Medicine, Jazan University It began with a literature survey/search for relevant information and a series of meetings with experts from various institutions. A Curriculum Committee was formed and a set of guiding principles was prepared to help develop the new curriculum. A standard curriculum writing format was adopted for each module, If was decided that an independent evaluation of the new curriculum was to be done by experts -in medical education before submission for official approval There were several difficulties in the course of designing the curriculum, such as: provision of vertical integration, the lack of preparedness of faculty to teach an integrated curriculum, and .difficulties inherent in setting a truly integrated examination, Curriculum: The program designed is for 6 years and In 3 phases: pre-med [year I], organ/system [years 2 and 3], and clinical clerkship [years 4, 5, and 6], This is to be fallowed by a year of Internship. The pre-med phase aims at improving the students' English language and prepare them for the succeeding phases. The organ/ system phase includes the integrated systems and the introductory modules. The curricidum includes elective modules, early clinical training, behavioral sciences, medical ethics, biostatistics, computer practice, and research methods. The curriculum provides active methods of instruction that include: small group discussion tutorials, problem-based learning [PBL], case-study/ clinical presentations, seminars, skills practice [clinical skill lab], practical demonstration, and .student independent [earning. Methods of evaluating students include continuous and summative assessment. The new curriculum adopted by the Jazan Faculty of Medicine Is an integrated, organ/ system based, community-oriented, with early clinical skills, elective modules, and innovative methods of instructions

Does the management of bronchial asthma by family physicians meet standards of the national protocol?

Asthma is a common disease that is sometimes fatal. Its prevalence, morbidity and mortality are increasing. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the proficiency of primary care physicians in general knowledge, diagnosis, classification of severity and management of asthma along the guidelines of the Saudi National Asthma Protocol, and to analyze the association of their proficiency level with certain professional standards. This was a cross-sectional study conducted in the Department of Family Medicine and the Main Air Base Clinic at the North-West Armed Forces Hospital in Tabuk City, Saudi Arabia from the 1st to the 29th of June 2001. All 44 primary care physicians working there at the time were enrolled in the study. A self-administered true/false questionnaire prepared by the Saudi National Asthma Scientific Committee was completed by all physicians. The Passing score was >/= 50%.Only 39% of the physicians passed the test as a whole, with 66% passed in general knowledge, 70% in diagnosis, 48% in the classification of severity and 59% in the management of asthma. There was an association between significant achievement and Family Medicine Board Certification as well as some knowledge of the National Asthma Protocol [p >/= 0.005]. No association was observed with attendance of asthma training courses. There was positive significant correlation between the knowledge score, the management scores and the total scores of physicians. The level of awareness of the National Asthma Protocol among the primary care physicians was low [52%]. Their proficiency in general knowledge, diagnosis, classification of severity and management was also low. A higher standard was associated with Family Medicine Board Certification. Further studies to identify the reasons for these deficiencies need to be carried out so that measures could be taken to rectify the situation