Need Assessment of the General Practitioner’s Curriculum Based on Clinical Activities, Advocacy, Research, and Education (CARE) Model

Background: Social responsiveness of a curriculum is directing all medical education activities in order to train expert physicians to meet the health needs of a target community. Since medical education has moved towards a community-centered and community-based approach, a significant attention has to be paid to the concept of social responsiveness in medical education. Therefore, the biggest challenge of the future medical faculties is creating an acceptable relationship between health effect and community, as it is the main objective of the social responsiveness. The purpose of this study is to assess the educational needs of general practitioners for social responsiveness from the viewpoint of medical graduates and educational experts. Methods: The present study was a descriptive one in term of the applied purposes and data gathering method. Also it focused on correlation through structural equation model. The assessment tool used in this study was a questionnaire. The statistical population consisted of 140 medical graduates who passed at least one year of their graduation, as well as educational experts (educational expert of the department, vice chancellors of education of the departments, and EDC Experts) of Education Development Center of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. The sample size was estimated as 103 people by Cochran formula. Results: The findings showed that there is a significant relationship among all areas (clinical, educational, and research) with social responsiveness except advocacy area. Conclusion: The results of the study indicate the importance of addressing social responsiveness in general practitioners curriculum as a guide for implementing responsiveness plan.