Using Private Medical Centers in Training Medical Students: The Viewpoints of the Faculty Members of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: Taking advantage of faculty members' private offices for educational intentions has been recommended as a strategy for students' attendance in society and their encounter with patient management. This study was performed to investigate the viewpoints of administrators and clinical faculty members toward using private medical centers for training students. Methods: This descriptive study was carried out on all clinical faculty members who owned private offices. The data gathering tool was a questionnaire with five point Likert scale and including 20 items about using private medical centers. Data was analyzed by SPSS software using methods for descriptive statistics, t-test, and Pearson. Results: In total, 173 persons returned the questionnaires. The mean of the total score of the questionnaires was 3.02±0.78 out of five. The most agreement was on the role of in-office education on identifying students' future job, teaching new cases to them, and promoting researches and studies in medical sciences. Most of the respondents believed that education in private offices could reduce offices' income, the number of patients, and patients' confidence in physician. Conclusion: Faculty members believed that using private medical centers could promote the education of clerkship students, interns, and residents, but the total mean shows that their general view is not that positive. It is recommended to conduct interventional studies concerning the effect of training in private centers on learners' knowledge and skills.