Mission Statement

To prepare physicians who would be able to meet and respond to the changing health care needs and expectations of the Saudi Arabian community.

Overall Goals:

1. To develop doctors who possess knowledge, skills and attitudes that will insure that they are competent to practice Medicine safely and effectively.
2. To ensure that graduates have appropriate foundation for life long learning and further training in any branch of Medicine.
3. To help graduates develop to be critical thinkers and problem solvers when managing health problems in the community of Saudi Arabia.

Specific Objectives of the Curriculum:

A. Objectives relating to knowledge

Graduates completing our program will have sufficient knowledge in the following:

1. Scientific method relevant to biological, behavioral and social sciences at a level sufficient to understand the basis for present medical practice and to assimilate the advances in knowledge that will occur over their working life.
2. The normal structure, function and development of the human body and mind at all stages of life, the interactions between body and mind, and the factors that may disturb these.
3. The etiology, pathology, symptoms and signs, natural history and prognosis of common mental and physical illnesses in children, adolescents, adults and the aged.
4. Common diagnostic procedures, their uses and limitations.
5. Management of common conditions including pharmacological, physical, nutritional and psychological therapies.
6. Cultural and social factors affecting human relationships, the psychological well –being of patients and their families, and the interactions between humans and their social and physical environment.
7. The principles of ethics that relate to health care and the legal responsibilities of the medical profession.

B. Objectives relating to skills

Graduates completing our program will have developed the following skills to an appropriate level for their stage of training:

1. The ability to take a tactful, organized and problem-focused medical history.
2. The ability to perform an accurate physical and mental state examination.
3. The ability to choose the appropriate and practical clinical skills to apply in a given situation.
4. The ability to interpret and integrate the history and physical examination findings to arrive at an appropriate diagnosis or differential diagnosis.
5. The ability to select the most appropriate and cost effective diagnostic procedures.
6. The ability to formulate a management plan.
7. The ability to communicate clearly, considerately and sensitively with patients, relatives, doctors, nurses, other health professionals and the community.
8. The ability to counsel sensitively and effectively and to provide information in a manner that ensures patients and families can be truly informed when consenting to any procedure.
9. The ability to recognize serious illness and to perform common emergency and life-saving procedures such as caring for the unconscious patient and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
10. The ability to educate patients and others in promoting health and preventing disease.
11. The ability to interpret medical evidence in a critical and scientific manner and to use libraries and other information resources to pursue independent inquiry relating to medical problems.
12. The ability to be an active independent learner, able to seek out information, to critically analyze it, and apply it to scientific reasoning for the purpose of solving clinical problems.

C. Objectives relating to attitudes.

During basic medical education, students should acquire the following professional attitudes, which are regarded as fundamental to medical practice:

1. Adherence to the Islamic ethical code in dealing with patients, relatives, and colleagues.
2. Understanding the Islamic guidance surrounding health and  illness.
3. Respect for every human being with an appreciation of the diversity of human background and cultural values.
4. A recognition and consideration of the personal need of each patient as well as the family and social environment when managing clinical problems.
5. A desire to ease pain and suffering.
6. An awareness of the need to communicate with patients and their families and to involve them fully in planning management of their condition.
7. A desire to achieve the optimal patient care for the least cost to allow maximum benefit from the available resources.
8. Recognition that the health interests of the patient and the community are paramount.
9. A willingness to work effectively in a team with other health care professionals.
10. An appreciation of the responsibility to maintain standards of medical practice at the highest possible level throughout a professional career.
11. An appreciation of the need to recognize when a clinical problem exceeds their capacity to deal with it safely and efficiently and of the need to refer the patient for help from others when this occurs.
12. An appreciation of the contribution of research to the evolution of Medicine.
13. Adherence to the ethical code of research in Medicine.

General Features of the Curriculum

• It prepares students to be life long learners by adopting a gradual student- centered approach.
• It is responsive to student’s personal and academic needs.
• Where appropriate, it adopts new and internationally approved methods in medical education.
• It is in continuous review and improvement.
• It is responsive to Saudi societal and community needs and expectations.
• It is run by a multidisciplinary team of educators and clinicians.
• Its is delivered in a horizontally and vertically integrated multidisciplinary fashion.
• Where appropriate, it uses small group and problem-based learning.
• It makes effective use of available resources including the skills lab and e-learning.
• Student assessment is centralized and outcome driven.