Leadership and management curriculum planning for Iranian general practitioners

Abstract

Introduction: Leadership and management are two expected featuresand competencies for general practitioners (GPs). The purpose of thisstudy was leadership and management curriculum planning for GPswhich was performed based on Kern’s curriculum planning cycle.Methods: This study was conducted in 2011-2012 in Iran using anexplanatory mixed-methods approach. It was conducted throughan initial qualitative phase using two focus group discussions and28 semi-structured interviews with key informants to capture theirexperiences and viewpoints about the necessity of managementcourses for undergraduate medical students, goals, objectives, andeducational strategies according to Kern’s curriculum planning cycle.The data was used to develop a questionnaire to be used in a quantitativewritten survey. Results of these two phases and that of the review ofmedical curriculum in other countries and management curriculumof other medical disciplines in Iran were used in management andleadership curriculum planning. In the qualitative phase, purposefulsampling and content analysis with constant comparison based onStrauss and Corbin’s method were used; descriptive and analytic testswere used for quantitative data by SPSS version 14.Results: In the qualitatively stage of this research, 6 main categoriesincluding the necessity of management course, features and objectivesof management curriculum, proper educational setting, educationalmethods and strategies, evolutionary method and feedback resultwere determined. In the quantitatively stage of the research, fromthe viewpoints of 51.6% of 126 units of research who filled out thequestionnaire, ranked high necessary of management courses. Thecoordination of care and clinical leadership was determined asthe most important role for GPs with a mean of 6.2 from sampleviewpoint. Also, team working and group dynamics had the firstpriority related to the principles and basics of management with amean of 3.59. Other results were shown in the paper.Conclusion: Results of this study indicated the need to provideeducational programs for GPs; it led to a systematic curriculumtheory and clinical management using Kern cycle for generalpractitioner’s discipline. Implementation and evaluation of thisprogram is recommended.Keywords: Curriculum; Management; Medical education; General practitioner