A brief introduction to the field of medicine, its curriculum and its syllabus

General characteristics of the degree program: 
Name of the program: Doctor of Medicine (MD) 
Duration of the program: At least 6.5 years 
The rules and regulations of the program are all based on the educational guidelines approved by the Supreme Council of Medical Sciences Planning. 
Total number and types of credits: 
The total number of credits that should be passed by the students is 297, more details about which are given below: 

Phases: The degree program for doctor of medicine consists of 4 phases: basic medical sciences, fundamentals of clinical medicine, clinical clerkship, and clinical internship. 
Obligatory courses: 
Obligatory courses include the core curriculum of the program. Passing these courses is necessary for all of the students of medicine in order for them to be able to do their jobs as doctors. The school of medicine must lay the ground for offering these courses and must assure the fulfilment of the expected results in the students. The obligatory courses of the MD program are offeredin each of the four phases as follows: 
1)    First phase (basic medical sciences): 
•    General courses: At least 8 credits of the total 24 credits that should be passed before the comprehensive exam of the basic medical sciences 
•    Basic courses: At least 46.5 credits of the total 69.5 credits that should be passed before the comprehensive exam of the basic medical sciences 
* In order to go to the second phase of the program (fundamentals of clinical medicine), students must pass the comprehensive exam of the basic medical sciences. 
2)    Second phase (fundamentals of clinical medicine): 
•    Specialized courses for fundamentals of clinical medicinephase: 29 credits 
•    The number of floating credits between the two phases of basic medical sciences and fundamentals of clinical medicine: 15 credits 
3)    Third phase (clinical clerkship): 
The minimum duration of this phase is 21 months that can be divided into two parts in the program offered by the school: clerkship 1 (or studentship) and clerkship 2 (or externship). 
•    Specialized theoretical courses for clinical clerkship (obligatory): 31 credits 
•    The courses of clinical clerkship (obligatory): 63 credits (in 21 months) 
•    The number of floating credits between the two phases of fundamentals of clinical medicine and clerkship (obligatory): 7 credits 
* At the end of the third phase, the students must pass the pre-internship comprehensive exam in order to move on to the fourth phase. 
* In order to take the pre-internship comprehensive exam, the students should already pass all of the general, basic medical, and specialized courses related to the second and third phases. 
4)    Fourth phase (clinical internship): 
•    The duration of clinical internship: 18 months 
•    Obligatory courses for clinical internship: 56 credits 
* In order to graduate as a doctor of medicine, students must successfully pass the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). 

Optional courses: 
These courses include non-obligatory materials for the program. They provide the opportunity for universities and the students to focus on various other contents and learning opportunities based on the conditions of the university, the special needs of the region, or the interests of the educational departments and/ or students. These courses can compliment the core contents covered in the obligatory courses and help medical students realize their potentialities. The total number of the specialized optional credits offered during the MD degree program is 20. 
•    The total number of credits that students should pass before pre-internship comprehensive exam: 4 
•    The total number of credits that students should pass during the clinical internship phase according to the plans of the university: 16 

Floating courses: 
A)    Floating courses between the two phases of basic medical sciences and fundamentals of clinical medicine: 15 credits of basic courses (the list of the courses is given in the table) can be offered either in basic medical sciences phase or in fundamentals of clinical medicine phase. These courses are not evaluated in the comprehensive exam of the basic medical sciences. Therefore, passing these courses is not obligatory for taking the comprehensive exam at the end of this phase. Furthermore, unlike other courses offered in the fundamentals of clinical medicine phase, taking and passing these courses does not require passing the comprehensive exam of the basic medical sciences by the students. 
B)    Floating courses between the two phases of the fundamentals of clinical medicine and clinical clerkship: 7 credits of the specialized courses (the list of the courses is given in the table) can be offered either in the fundamentals of clinical medicine phase or in the clinical clerkship phase.