Self-perceptions of problem-based curriculum graduates about their professional competency and quality of medical education

Dear Sir

The traditional discipline-based curriculum of Faculty of Medicine, Ankara University, a 57-year-old medical school was replaced with a new curriculum in 2002–2003 academic year. The new curriculum was an integrated, problem-based one, with reduced number of lectures and contact time, early clinical contact, clinical and communication skills training, community studies, evidence-based medicine course, system-based clerkships, electives, new assessment-evaluation methods such as OSCE/OSPE, student logbooks, progress tests and assessments during instruction process.

The study was conducted to determine perceptions of the first graduates of the new curriculum about their professional competency levels and the quality of medical education.

The study group consisted of 97 of 137 (70.8%) June 2008 graduates, who participated in the study on a volunteering basis, with the following questions being asked:

1. Perceptions about the level of professional competences

2. Opinions about the quality of medical education

3. To what extent do they feel ready for working as doctors?

4. Career plans

The mean scores about the professional competencies ranged from 3.35 to 4.61 (max.5.00). Mean scores of 24 of the defined 38 professional competencies ranged from 4.00 to 5.00, whereas those of 14 were below 4.00. The highest mean score was for ‘Practicing basic medical interventions’ (4.61), while the lowest mean scores were for ‘Awareness of legal procedures and obligations for medical practices’ (3.35) and ‘Awareness of legal and professional responsibilities and obligations about judicial cases’ (3.35) competencies. 25% of the graduates stated that they wanted to work as academicians and 75% of them preferred to practice medicine after specializing in an area.

The study group felt to be more successful in acquiring clinical skills (4.11/5.00) than basic science knowledge (3.31). The overall quality of medical education was scored as 6.74/10 points. The low scores about legal aspects and national health policies can be attributed to frequent and major changes in the national health policies over the last 6 years.

The fact that the first graduates of problem-based, integrated curriculum felt quite competent particularly in clinical skills, professional values and attitudes, ethics, communication and public health, is in line with the aims of the defined curriculum (Schmidt et al. 2006; Koh et al. 2008). Further research to examine the actual professional performances of the graduates is needed.