What are the Weights of Responsibilities of Faculty Members in Medical Universities?

Abstract

Background and purpose:The tasks of faculty members and their weights particularly in integrated system of Iran are not well defined. Methods:To address this issue, in a comprehensive project, we explored all rules, regulations and officialdocuments in national level, collected the opinion of experts around the country using in-depthinterview and defined the weights of main tasks in a group discussion. This paper presents all findings of the group meeting in January 2006, where every member of the managerial team of Kerman University of Medical Sciences and 37 faculty members participated. Results:The computed weights of the three main tasks for non-clinical members were: 0.336 for education,0.258 research , and 0.146 for self-development. These weights for clinical members were: 0.295 for education, 0.219 for providing services, and 0.175 for research. The main activity in education and research were teaching students and writing papers respectively. Conclusion: Comparing these weights with the current situation in most of Iranian universities of medical sciences shows that attention to education, research and self-development is less than these weights; however, providing services, particularly clinical services is much more than expected. Key words: RESPONSIBILITY, MEDICAL UNIVERSITY, FACULTY MEMBER, EDUCATION, RESEARCH