Quality Improvement in Public Health Clerkship Program: An Action Research in Khoy School of Medical Sciences

The quality of the public health clerkship program determines the level of skill acquisition. Quality clerkship program, according to the changing needs of society in the field of health, as well as complying with educational standards, requires academic and continuous approaches. This study endeavored to design, implement, and evaluate the public health clerkship quality improvement program in Khoy University of Medical Sciences.

This qualitative study was conducted through action research approach in the 2021-2023 academic years. Simmons' six step model for action research was used including diagnosis of problem, information gathering, planning, action/implementation, evaluation, and feedback. Individual and group interviews and focus-group discussion sessions were used for data collection. Content analysis method employed for the data analysis.

Based on the views of stakeholders in the study, 14 problems related to clerkship course were identified and interventions were designed and implemented. Clerkship program, clarifying the blueprint of the clerkship evaluation, better coordination and proper cooperation of the educational fields were the experiences of different stakeholders. Lack of educational facilities in the health centres was a challenge which needs more attention that was not resolved.

The results revealed that using a systematic method for promoting clerkship program quality would be effective. Besides, adopting a participatory approach in curriculum planning and students evaluation using different stakeholders viewpoint and taking advantage of their participation brings better results in promoting the quality of higher education. Considering the educational standards of health centres can lead to the improvement of the quality of field education not only in the field of public health, but also in other fields.