Introduction to the Workshop

Reasons for Organizing the Workshop

Over the last decade a growing awareness of the rapid pace of development in public health, with significant progress in medicine and surgery, has brought up new challenges for educators in the field of basis health science. This situation calls for a new approach towards addressing the basic aspects of physiological sciences. The central role of physiology is being acknowledged in the areas of changed curriculum, learning strategies, and methods of assessment and evaluation areas attracting the most attention in today’s education system. The colleges, universities, and educational bodies in the West have been quick to respond to medical and scientific advancements in the field; the institutions in developing countries, however, generally seem to lag far behind due to their inaction or because of their failure to recognize the need for changes as a priority.

The idea of organizing an international workshop on teaching physiology, especially for the enlightenment and experience of physiologists from developing countries, surfaced in 1996, when the Executive Council of the Pakistan Physiological Society discussed the issues of teaching physiology in Pakistan. Realizing the significance of the matter, the Council developed and circulated a questionnaire, comprising of questions related to the curriculum, learning strategies, and methods of evaluation. Eighty-two faculty members, belonging to senior, middle and junior ranks serving in physiology departments in twenty-two medical colleges and two universities in Pakistan responded to the questionnaire.

A great majority of the members represented middle-rank faculty. A summary of their comments related mainly to the following issues.

1. The objectives of the physiology course are generally not available or if available are not usually adhered to.

2. Didactic lecturing was reported as the most popular mode of teaching.

3. Evaluation is mostly done on a quarterly basis.

4. Examinations consist mostly of descriptive essay-type questions along with some Multiple Choice Questions.