Compliance of medical biochemistry education in medical schools with national core education program 2014

Abstract

Abstract Background Medical school curriculums are not standardized in Turkey and around the world, which results in great diversity in education. National Core Education Program (NCEP) has been prepared as a frame program and the aim of the program is to train medical doctors with basic abilities. Objective The objective of this work is to compare biochemistry curriculum based on NCEP among medical schools in Turkey. Materials and methods Twelve-question long survey was prepared. Sixty-nine out 84 medical schools were participated the study using 2017–2018 curriculum data. Biochemistry curriculums of medical schools are compared based on NCEP 2014. Results Number of biochemistry hours and content of the lectures varies among medical schools. While biochemistry was intensely studied in the first and second years of the education program, biochemistry hours and number of universities offering biochemistry have dramatically decreased after the second year. Clinical biochemistry questions had lower positive response. Accredited medical schools include NCEP subjects in their curriculum in higher ratio than the unaccredited ones. Conclusion Biochemistry curriculum shows variation among medical schools. Addition of clinical biochemistry beyond second year would improve NCEP adaptation. Multidisciplinary approach and vertical integration should be employed to improve quality of medical education.