Community-Based Medical Education from Gezira Medical Students’ Perspective

Community-based education (CBE) is the means of achieving educational relevance to community needs. The Integrated Field Training, Research and Rural Development Program (IFTRRD) is a course designed to achieve CBE in Faculty of Medicine, University of Gezira since its establishment in 1978. We aimed to study CBE from Gezira medical students’ perspective regarding the IFTRRD course. In this cross-sectional study, 244 medical students at University of Gezira were enrolled during 2016- 2017. Most of the participants agreed that their team work and leadership skills had improved (82% and 78.3% respectively). Moreover, 96% of the students agreed that rural stay helped them be engaged with the community. About 91% identified health and health-related problems in the village and 50% of them performed interventions. About 45.9% achieved 75% of the social accountability philosophy. The students gained communication, teamwork and leadership skills. Moreover, they achieved the philosophy of the university in social accountability. They also identified community problems and performed appropriate interventions.