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international focus: IRAN

The first LFHom course in Iran

a personal experience
The Faculty is now providing courses for students in Iran. Dr Kasra Chehrazy describes some of the difficulties he faced delivering the course and its success.
It all started in April 2010 when 13 Iranian medical doctors and one Indonesian physiotherapist enrolled on the first LFHom course to take place in Iran. Im pleased to announce that nearly all of the students passed the PHCE and achieved their LFHom certificate. Teaching the course, however, did present a few challenges. Although the course was taught in Farsi, all the handouts were in English so I had to choose the students whose English was good enough to comprehend a homeopathic text. Most of the students had already had some homeopathic training and so were aware of homeopathy and homeopathic terms. But their previous training had given them some ideas about homeopathy that were not in line with Faculty training. Some of these ideas were so fixed in their minds I found myself having to explain certain points continuously. Eventually I discovered the best way to rid them of their preconceived notions was to say this is what the Faculty says and you have to pass the Faculty exam. When the students came to take the exam the language barrier once again presented a problem as the paper was set in English and unfortunately I didnt have enough time to translate it. To overcome this obstacle I allowed students to ask me the meaning of words they didnt understand. There were some questions about language or structure of the sentence that were common to most students and I found myself having to quietly explain the same question to each student. This resulted in me having to run around the examination room repeating the same thing over and over again. Then I decided to write the common questions on the white board and refer the students to the board. In future I will adopt a more organised approach and to try to predict questions that are most likely to be asked and write them on the board in advance. Although the students were faced with these challenges they did very well, and I would like to offer my congratulations to those who gained their LFHom. Dr Amir Azizi, Dr Mehdi Tanhaee, Dr Maedeh Hajiaghaee, Mehdi Tanhaee, Maedeh Hajiaghaee, Dr Javad Hoseinpoor, Dr Nazila Khaliliazad, Dr Reza Khajehyousefi, Dr Roya Rategh, Dr Marzieh Shenavar, Dr Nasrollah Solatnia, Dr Majidreza Tabibzadeh, Dr Naser Kanani, Dr Labib Noorani, Dr Ghobad Nikravesh and Indri Mouludya from Indonesia. Publishing research Faculty courses have been designed to

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 news international focus: IRAN contd.

deliver a high standard of education and training. Using homeopathy ethically and within the bounds of an individuals medical profession is part of the curriculum for both the PHCE and MFHom courses. However there is nothing in the curriculum in relation to carrying out research to an acceptable standard. Many medical professionals in this region have no idea about the international standards governing the publication of scientific or medical research. For countries where research is not so widely undertaken and where there are no guidelines covering this important area, would it not be a good idea for this subject to be covered in the curriculum? In my view, the Faculty curriculum should include an introduction on how to produce good research papers that meet international standards. It would help to improve the research culture in this country and make students aware of what is acceptable for publication, which in turn would encourage more professionals to get involved in quality research programmes looking into homeopathy and its therapeutic use. A culture of titles Teaching in foreign countries to people of different cultures will inevitably highlight the need for a flexible approach to how the courses are delivered. In countries where free speech is limited or even prohibited, the concept of power has assumed an important role. It seems to be common throughout most Middle Eastern countries that people are brought up to respect the most powerful; it can be seen in many aspects of society and teaching is no exception. In the academic world power equates with knowledge and what indicates knowledge is a title. The person with the most impressive title is deemed to be the most powerful and thus the best person to impart knowledge. This aspect of Middle Eastern culture is quite different from western culture where titles are used to indicate academic rank and seniority. In my view, a course provider with a title that shows a clear relationship with the Faculty of Homeopathy would be in a far better position to attract students away from other teaching centres. It will identify the course provider as being accredited with the Faculty and thus a provider of a high standard of training. The emphasis I place on the importance of titles may seem somewhat strange to those of you living in Western Europe, but titles and the role they play in the Middle East should not be underestimated. Therefore I would like to suggest the Faculty work with members from this part of the world to create a suitable title for course providers, which Im sure would result in the Faculty being viewed with far greater respect as a teaching body and increase the number of medical professionals enrolling on its courses. Dr Kasra Chehrazy MD MFHom

Homeopathy in supportive cancer care an integrative approach

CPD seminar in Liverpool

November 5, 2011 from 9:30-16:30

Dr Elizabeth Thompson
will be talking about homeopathy in an integrative cancer care setting.
Whether you work in private practice or the National Health Service come along and feel more confident to prescribe in this increasingly relevant clinical area.

Contact: Nanci Fawcett

Tel:01582 408679 Email: nfawcett@facultyofhomeopathy.org

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