The School of Medicine was established as ‘Denizli Medical School’ as part of 9 September University, in 1987. Pamukkale University School of Medicine started the hospital services in 1994. School of Medicine started to teach 4th, 5th and 6th year students in the 1996-97 academic year. The faculty has adopted ‘active learning’ based on problems. The method is student centered, and it is based on: problem in first, second, and third years; and tasks in the forth and fifth years. The 6th year covers the internship in order for the student to internalize the importance of scientific thinking and continuous in service education and development. Problem solving based learning sessions bring in crucial skills of: collaboration, group work, leading a group, listening, note-taking, respecting the other members’ ideas, making critical reviews of publications, self-learning, finding the sources, and making presentations. Besides these sessions, the syllabus covers presentations of biological, behavioral and communicative skills, professional ethics; applications of anatomy, laboratory and professional skills; studies on presentations and fieldwork of social matters; and modules of work specifically targeting research and information access skills. The educational program within the structured disease groups is task-based; furthermore, the method is enriched with hands-on instruction, clinical applications, and presentations of the faculty members, seminars and fieldwork. Detailed information is available at http://pau.edu.tr/dosyalar/pau/katalog09.pdf and http://pau.edu.tr/tip.

The aim of the program is to train competent medical doctors who are faithful to ethical and deontological rules, who have sufficient knowledge of the field, learn how to learn, make the correct diagnosis, apply the cure within the conditions of the environment, give importance to society health and preventive medicine, communicate effectively, open to self improvement, believe in teamwork, and lead a team when necessary.