Pre-graduate public health education in a new and global perspective in the faculty of medicine, Cukurova University, Adana, Turkey

An extensively practical pre-graduate public health course (PHC) at the fifth year of the curriculum of the Faculty of Medicine, Cukurova University, has been reorganized in a completely interactive model, like other educational programs in the Faculty in the light of contemporary educational understandings and necessary novelties have been integrated in the system. The preventive medicine and public health subjects have been accepted to play a core role in the health services. This mission has been aimed by PHC to be transferred to the students in terms of not only knowledge, but also practice. Public health, work and workers’ health and environment laboratories offer chance of practice in the related areas. Another chance is the presence of a health-education-and-research-area in the field where the students have possibility of practical education, and of the observation of primary health services at a real situation, besides being outside the hospital. As approved by the national medical core curriculum, malaria subject is dealt more in detail for both diagnosis and treatment in all mentioned laboratories. The students attend to interactive activities like group studies, role-plays and excursions, and they are encouraged to investigate using Internet points at the department at every occasion. After humanistic education in the first years of curriculum, at this fifth year every student practices vaccination at real situations by visiting primary health centers. The subject of health management is partly covered at the provincial health directorate. Other out-of-department practices are performed at provincial agriculture directorate, tuberculosis centers and provincial public health laboratory. Now a global perspective has been added after the introduction of ERASMUS-Lifelong-Learning program into the system. Foreign students present their countries’ public health experiences causing an international knowledge exchange. It can be concluded that PHC raises the leader, informed and skilled doctors who also recognize their community.