Practical Biophysics Education in Medical Schools in Türkiye and Northern Cyprus: A National Needs Assessment and a Proposed Modular Framework

Maintaining minimum shared learning outcomes in practice-based basic science education is challenging when institutions differ in academic staffing, student cohort size, and laboratory resources. Using practical biophysics education as a disciplinary case, this cross-sectional, multi-source study assessed how medical schools in Türkiye and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus address these constraints and proposed a resource-adaptable modular framework. Official curriculum documents and a 16-item online survey were used. Invitations were sent to 86 medical schools; 40 departments responded and 38 provided analysable data, and verified curriculum data were available for 72. Practical education was identified in 39 schools (54.2%), while 37 (51.4%) had a laboratory. Among schools providing practical education, the median annual teaching time was 10 h. Among responding schools providing practical education, defined learning objectives, a laboratory manual and post-practical assessment were reported by 21 of 22, 18 of 22 and 13 of 23 respectively. The student-to-academic-staff ratio was inversely correlated with practical teaching hours (Spearman’s rho = −0.420, p = 0.021; 95% CI −0.729 to −0.010, n = 30), an imprecise estimate whose confidence interval included zero when one extreme observation was excluded (rho = −0.375; 95% CI −0.713 to 0.052). The ratio was significantly higher in schools rating practical education as insufficient (p = 0.004; p = 0.008 without that observation). These findings informed six core and nine elective or advanced modules. The proposed framework may support shared competencies under varying institutional conditions but requires structured expert validation and multicentre pilot testing before its feasibility and effectiveness can be established.