Requirement for Revision of Virology Education for Medical Students

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Background: Medical education should be considered as a dynamic process. If necessary, the program should be changed. Considering rapid advantages in the field of virology, it seems to be necessary to review and change the virology course of medical students. Therefore we decided to analyze the view of Iranian medical students of the quantity and quality of virology course. Methods: Medical students at basic science of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences attended in this research in the spring semester of 2011. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to analyze the view of students of the importance, quality, and revision of the program. And students’ viewpoints about each variable were presented as percentages. Results: 82.5% of students evaluated the importance of virology as high to very high levels. To most of student, the relationship between virology and their future career was high. Most of the students agreed with the increase of duration of the course and revision of  the curriculum. The destitution of the courses in basic science was not appropriate according to 86.25% of students. Conclusion: Considering the results of the study, we suggest increasing of virology credit point for medical students. The present study showed that the importance of the course and its professional application was evaluated as high level by most of the students. The revising of the course and adding the new topics to current curriculum was agreed by most of them.