EXPLORING AWARENESS, ATTITUDES AND INTERESTS OF MEDICAL STUDENTS OF JAHROM UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES TO ISLAMIC ETHICS AND TRADITIONAL MEDICINE

Introduction: Traditional medicine is one of the medical practices common in Iran that, due to some reasons, has been of little attention to doctors.Hence, the aim of the present study was to explore awareness, attitudes and interests of medical students of Jahrom University of Medical Sciences to Islamic ethics and traditional medicine. Method: This was a cross-sectional and descriptive study that was conducted on medical students of Jahrom in a census fashion in 2015.The data collection was a researcher-designed questionnaire whose validity and reliability were confirmed during a pilot study. Information was analyzed by central tendency and calculating dispersion and using descriptive statistics and regression data and statistics, chi-square and correlation with statistical software SPSS version 11. Results: In this study, there were 38 women (54.3%) and 32 men (45.7). 49 students were at the level of basic sciences (70%), four graduate students of physiotherapy (5.7), 3 students (4.3%), 5 people were externship (7.1), 9 interns (12.9%).1 subject (1.4%) had low level of awareness, 13 people (18.6%) had moderate awareness level and 56 people (80%) had a high level of awareness. Among the students participating in the study, 2 patients (2.9%) had poor attitude, 17 (24.3%) had moderate level of attitude and 50 patients (71.4%) had a high level of attitude. 5 patients (7.1%) hada poor interest, 32 (45.7) had average interest and 32 (45.75) had high interest. According to the chi-square test, there was no significant relationship between students' gender and awareness, interest and attitude. (0.037, 0.009, 0.009) Conclusion: Despite the high level of awareness in medical students about traditional medicine, the desire to learn it is remarkable and there are good grounds for the authorities to provide modifications in the process of treatment by incorporating these topics in medical courses.