Istanbul Faculty of Medicine

Introduction

Istanbul Faculty of Medicine (IFM) is the oldest and largest Medical School in Turkey.  It has been founded in 1827.  The medical education in IFM has recently been accreditated in June 2013 by the National Medical Education Accreditation Council. The National Medical Education Council has been acrreditated by  World Federation of  Medical Education (WFME) very recently in March 2014 which gives our Medical School the privilege of being accreditated on an international platform.

Altogether there are 2905 students including the international students (n=227).  We have 54 student classes of various sizes with a total capacity of 2499. We have a fully equipped library with internet and computer facilities.

Faculty staff  is approximately  400 including professors and  associate professors.

Aim and Goals

The aim and goals of IFM in the areas of education, research and patient service have been determined by the contribution of several partners in 2006 by SWOT analysis.

The goals of the medical education in IFM have been determined by taking into account the national and international standards and primarily aiming at the role and responsibilities of the doctor in the community. The students should  learn to protect the health of the individual and the society , improve the conditions,  to gain the knowledge, skills and attitude to solve the health problems, to work efficiently and in compliance with the health team, to learn to communicate, lead and contribute to the health system of the community they live in.

The competencies in knowledge, skills and attitude have been described in detail and published in the bye- laws of medical education of IFM.  All of these competencies have been put on the wbsite.

Curriculum

The medical education in IFM is a integrated program both vertically and horizontally, system based, enriched with electives,  partly student centred and enriched with different education methods like problem based solving sessions, evidence based medicine applications, simulated patient  practices, movies to interns  etc  and community based in complinace with the core curriculum standards.

The first year is attributed to Introduction to Medical Sciences, the second year  to Normal Structure and Function , the 3rd year to Pathological Structure and Function, the 4th and 5th year are clerkship years and the 6th year is the internship year.

The first 3 years are system based and composed of modules.

The first year consists of 4 modules  including Welcome to Medicine (4 weeks), Introduction to Medical Sciences (20 weeks), Stages of Life from Birth to Elderhood (4 weeks) and  Leukomotor system (4 weeks).

The second year consists of Blood- Lymphoid, Circulatory, Respiratory, Gastrointestinal, Nutrition, Metabolism, Endocrine, Urogenital and Nervous system modules each lasting about 2-4 weeks focusing mainly on normal structure and function.  We also have a module focused on Introduction to System Pathologies.

The 3rd year consists of the same systems but focusing more to pathological functions. We also have a semiology module for 3 weeks.

We have vertical corridors dedicated to Ethics, Research and Statistics and Communication Skills starting from the 1st year and continuing to the 3rd year.

The applications and practical studies are done throughout the year in the afternoons.

Clinical anatomy lab work runs also throughout the year in the afternoons.

We have 65 electives dedicated to medical sciences or social sciences  including Humanities in Medicine and English Courses and Social Responsibility Courses.

The 4th and 5th year of medical education have not been integrated yet and the education is based on the activities organized by Clinical Departments.

Organization and Structure of the Medical education

The recent bye- laws for medical education  havebeen  prepared in 2012.

The General Education Council (GEC)  consisting of Vice Dean, General Education Coordinator, Coordinators for Each Year of Medical Education, Coordinator of Student Affairs, Coordinator of Assessment Unit, Chief of Medical Education Department, Coordinator of Electives and the ex Vice Dean is the main body responsible for the implementation and application and continium of medical education.  The decisions taken in GEC are brought to Medical School Council headed by the Dean  and afterwards sent to Istanbul University Senate for final approval.

Each module has 2 coordinators for education from basic sciences and clinical sciences and also 2 coordinators for assessment.

We have an Assesment Unit which is responsible from all the exams, and assessment of the students.  A question bank is being prepared.  There are visa like tests after each or after 2-3 modules and also a final exam at the end of the year. The assessment tools are various according the the knowledge, skill or attitude being measured.   Together with the Medical Education Department, the Assessment Unit organizes courses for qualifications in assesment, question preparing etc. All exam questions are analyzed with respect to various indices.

Other Activities

We have incoming and outgoing Erasmus students and other  visiting international students from different international aggreemennts.

We have 32 Student Clubs engaged in different activities including sports, music, theatre, research, phylosophy etc.

Nearly all the slides or lecture notes can be found on the website.  Also preparing and publisihing of book series mainly focused on lecture notes have started .

We have a log book for students.  We are trying to integrate web based  education in our curriculum.