Background and Purpose: social accountability, a concept which is in the focal attention more than ever, is to provide service in the field of medical sciences. We aimed to identify the educational challenges to train accountable graduates in the medical education system to meet social needs.
Methods: This study was conducted by qualitative content analysis using in-depth semi-structured interviews with eleven academic members of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences who were selected by purposeful sampling. The interviews were analyzed using thematic content analysis.
Results: The findings of the study consisted of 3 main themes and each one was extracted from categories, sub-categories, and codes. One of the themes was educational program which consisted of 2 categories called defects in the curriculum and inappropriate educational strategies. The second theme was management policies, including macro policies and the policies of the university. The third theme was personal factors which mostly referred to formal and informal education prior to university.
Conclusions: The results of the study indicated the educational challenges to train accountable graduates in the medical education system. It seemed that although the results were obtained from Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, it had many common points with other universities. Therefore, planning and taking appropriate measures to address these challenges can find a way to train accountable graduates in the medical education system to meet social needs.
Keywords: SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY, EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM, MEDICAL EDUCATION