Scientific Research Competencies for Undergraduate Medical Education: The Case from Turkey

Scientific research has been an important part of the medical curriculum. Medical schools have attempted to impose Flexner’s will on the acquisition of research skills during the last century. We believe medical educators must question the extent to which they have been successful in achieving the research skills as envisioned by Flexner and identify the contributing factors and resultant consequences. Secondly, medical educators must ask what competencies should be identified to improve Flexner’s heritage for future physicians. In this article, we aimed to describe research training in the medical education program in Turkey and to propose some competencies toward this goal.