Teaching disability and rehabilitation medicine at the Medical School in Split, Croatia

We describe the unsatisfactory situation of teaching disability and rehabilitation to medical students, focusing on countries of Central/Eastern Europe (CEE), sourcing a selection of relevant literature and reports of competent colleagues from these countries. Further, we present a model of teaching disability and rehabilitation medicine as it is now taught at the Medical School in Split, after the program for teaching Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation to the 5th year medical undergraduates was reformed in the academic year 2001/2002 to make it a satisfying educational experience that focuses on rehabilitation medicine, allowing acquisition of the competence necessary for managing persons with disability in the community. In an anonymous evaluation questionnaire, 96% of students thought that the new program was very good, that it contributed significantly to their general medical education, and was useful for their future work as general practitioners. We belive that the new program, which is broad in scope and content, well received by students, and attains its objectives, deserves to be introduced to a wider medical community.