Biphasic Integration of Ophthalmology for Undergraduate Medical Students at Al-Baha Faculty of Medicine

It is a challenge to find a good time to teach a growing discipline like ophthalmology in a fully integrated system-based curriculum. We solved this problem in Faculty of Medicine, Albaha University (FMBU). We planned to teach ophthalmology in two phases. In Phase 1, we integrated related basic and clinical ophthalmologic objectives and contents in the related basic and clinical modules. In Phase 2, we teach the main ophthalmology objectives and modules in well-structured two-week module. In this article many questions related to the themes, objectives, contents, methods of instruction and assessment methods are discussed. Students are helped with module study guide that contain all module details. Feedback is obtained from both faculty and students for reasons of evaluation and future reforms. Evaluation had pointed to some weak components like module structure according to the desired outcome from the view of the academic staff. Assessment methods were the least satisfying to the students. The most important point in evaluation of this module is the results of the progress test. This showed dramatic improvement as compared with other KSA medical schools who participated in progress test after implementation.