FIMA Year Book 2009 - Federation of Islamic Medical Associations

Inculcating Islamic InputIntroduction:The first issue is to understand thedifference between pre-clinical andclinical years. As we know there isno direct contact with the patient inpre-clinical years though spiral andintegrated curriculum introducesclinical topics to the students. In clinicalyears the most important part is directcontact with the patient and morecomprehensive clinical subjects. Thisdistinction of topic areas and patientcontact clearly divides pre-clinical andclinical years into two separate systemsof teaching and learning, inspite ofhaving a horizontally and verticallyintegrated curriculum.Institutions provide educationalprograms and resources to their studentsbut they can not inculcate knowledgeand skill in them. It is the `educationalattitude` of students that provides asource to transform these programsand resources into required knowledgeand skills. Knowledge and skills can beused to provide good patient care butagain having required knowledge andskills alone is not enough to providepatient care. A student must haveproper `professional attitude` to usehis knowledge and skills for patientcare. As mentioned earlier, there is nopatient contact in pre-clinical years, soprofessional attitude is not importantin those years but educational attitudeis the most important and mandatorycomponent to gain knowledge andskills. In clinical years, with patientcontact, professional attitude is the mostrequired component in addition to theeducational attitude (1) . This argumentmay help in deciding the content of preclinicaland clinical years’ curriculum.Pre-clinical years should stress more onbasic knowledge and skills; insight intothe nature of disease, health and healingprocess; and the role of the health careprovider. Clinical years should stress onprofessionalism, disease patterns andpatient management.Proper attitude, is mandatory to gainmaximum benefit from education.In order to identify and inculcatethis appropriate attitude somedivine guidance is essential. Besides,`Istiqamah` i.e. steadfastness is anotherquality required and it is in fact moreimportant than just inculcating theright attitude. Inculcation of Islamicinput is vital in achieving both thedivine guidance and the Istiqamah.Introducing Islamic input in pre-clinicalyears will make students realize theseissues from the very beginning of theirtraining.Philosophy of Modern Medicine:Rene Descartes, a 17 th centuryphilosopher described the philosophyof modern medicine. He stated thatall the systems in this world operateunder mechanical laws and that thereis no meaning or purpose related tothese laws (2) . This philosophy gave abiomedical model of health and healing,practiced widely in the Western world.Current medical education system isalso based on this biomedical model (3) .Health professionals are trained to beFIMA YearBook 200930