Dashash Mayssoon
Director, Directorate of Evaluation and Accreditation, Ministry of Higher Education, Syria, Associate Professor, Faculty of Dentistry, Damascus University, Syria.
Educ Health (Abingdon). 2013 May-Aug;26(2):130-2. doi: 10.4103/1357-6283.120708.
The varying health needs in Syria because of the trend of increasing communicable and noncommunicable diseases necessitate new curricula for all health professions schools in which community health needs, socio-cultural aspects of health and disease can be emphasized. There is a need to produce more primary level healthcare professionals who are trained to apply the principles, policies and strategies of the World Health Organization and achieve better health for all. A new perspective in the Faculty of Dentistry in Damascus University has been suggested and is presented here. Graduates generally are not well prepared to provide primary level healthcare in the community. Community-oriented medical education (COME) can produce health-oriented professionals who are equipped with broad skills and able to work for health promotion, disease prevention, and cure. Health orientation is one of the most radical features of COME, wherein the curriculum is appropriate to learners' future practice in the community. Community orientation enables students to become more people focused so that they can work towards people's self-empowerment, change people's attitudes and behaviors, and improve their self-awareness and esteem. This viewpoint addresses the importance of redesigning the dental curriculum and the need to implement COME in Damascus University. It is proposed as an example of changes needed in all health professions schools in Syria. The call to redesign the curricula to serve the health needs of the Syrian population will be difficult to achieve but is vital. Improving our understanding of the concept of COME and having all sectors of government and society commit to it will make the transition possible and will make the COME a reality.
由于传染病和非传染病呈上升趋势，叙利亚出现了多样化的健康需求，这就要求所有卫生专业学校制定新的课程，强调社区卫生需求、健康与疾病的社会文化层面。需要培养更多的初级卫生保健专业人员，他们要接受培训，以应用世界卫生组织的原则、政策和战略，实现全民更健康的目标。本文提出并介绍了大马士革大学牙科学院的一个新视角。毕业生通常没有做好在社区提供初级卫生保健的充分准备。以社区为导向的医学教育（COME）能够培养出具备广泛技能、致力于健康促进、疾病预防和治疗的健康导向型专业人员。健康导向是COME最根本的特征之一，其课程适合学习者未来在社区的实践。以社区为导向能使学生更加关注人群，从而努力实现人们的自我赋权，改变人们的态度和行为，提高他们的自我意识和自尊。这一观点阐述了重新设计牙科课程的重要性以及在大马士革大学实施COME的必要性。它被作为叙利亚所有卫生专业学校所需变革的一个范例提出。呼吁重新设计课程以满足叙利亚民众的健康需求，这一目标虽难以实现，但至关重要。增进我们对COME概念的理解，并让政府和社会各界都致力于此，将使转型成为可能，并使COME成为现实。
