Undergraduate public health education at medical faculties in Turkey

Increasing number of policy initiatives in different parts of the world have underlined the importance of public health education for health care professionals. In the present study, we aimed to identify the place of public health education in undergraduate medical curricula in Turkey, and to compare it with that of some other countries. We first made internet-based search through the websites of the Departments of Public Health at medical schools. We picked 18 medical schools based on the sufficiency of content and the reliability of data.

We found a great deal of variability between schools in teaching methods, curricular content and number of staff. In 72% of medical schools, public health teaching begins in the first year of medical education. However, teaching delivered in the vast majority of them is as lectures and only a small portion (11%) includes practical learning such as field studies in the first year. While only one medical school provides public health teaching in all 6 years, others give in two years (28%), three years (28%) or four years (39%). Interestingly, almost all medical schools have public health-related courses in the third year. Another point to be highlighted is that all sixth year medical students in all medical schools have to do two-month rural practice rotation. Numbers of staff also vary greatly, ranging from 4 to 20. Comparing our data with some other countries’, we found out several similarities and discrepancies, mainly in educational methods and resources.

After all, there is a need to revise public health teaching within medical education, increase the supply of well-trained and motivated teachers and combine the best traditional teaching methods with more innovative, problem-based approaches. We also think that student input and feedback should be integral to the revision of public health curricula at medical schools.