Community Based Medical Education: Improving the Health of Community

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of student’s clerkship as an approach to community based medical education in improving the health of community. Materials and Methods: This interventional study was conducted at Ziauddin Medical College; Karachi from December 2006 to December 2007.Data was collected by using structured questionnaire after the approval of university ethical review committee. Before collecting the data informed written consent was obtained from all study participants. Baseline data was recorded from100 enrolled families. Medical students visited the enrolled families on fortnightly basis during which they carried out detailed counseling and interactive sessions. At the end of four month, post intervention data was recorded and all baseline parameters were compared with. Results: The pre and the posttest results showed significant improvement in the knowledge of mothers regarding prevention and management of diarrhea. Conclusion: Community-based education can be used as effective tool in improving the health of community. Health services should support the community based interventions to improve the knowledge and practices of mother which can contribute effectively towards improving infant and child health