Community- Based Education: Tikrit University College of Medicine Experience. PART THREE: Community Based Education Programme in Tikrit University College of Medicine: proposal for change

TUCOM communiuty based education

Abstract

The aim of CBME is to produce graduates who are responsive to the health needs of their community. TUCOM has been developed through a collaborative process aimed at building faculty ownership and ongoing sustainability. The result is a capability-based program that features early clinical experience and small group teaching, which offer students considerable flexibility and achieves a high degree of alignment between graduates outcomes, learning activities and assessment.
CBME is a powerful teaching and learning strategy that allows students to study the source, nature and magnitude of health and related problems. In exchange for the learning acquired in real life environments, students provide health services to the community . CBME is conceptualized with the three following interrelated elements: student, institution, and community. While students seek to learn about health problems, the institution provides the resources and assesses the students. The community on the other provides the learning environment. CBME has been found to have several benefits: first it helps to eliminate learning needs that are not important, thus reducing information overload. This has been achieved through designing learning objectives that are based on community needs. Secondly, CBME enables learning to take place in the real world where problems are based. In this regards, students in small groups are attached to rural communities. Thirdly, CBME assists students to take responsibility for their own learning [5]. As students interact with the community, they discover more learning needs. Fourthly, CBME has proven to be enjoyable to both students and the community. Through planning and implementing activities together, students and the community share the achievements