Determinants of social accountability for medical schools in Iraq: A qualitative case study

Background: The mandate of medical schools is to enrich the health system through education, research, and service to satisfy the health needs of the societies they serve. The social accountability (SA) movement aims to intensify the medical school's mission. Although the context of every school is unique, one of the increasingly significant roles of medical education is to develop the indicators that promote SA. The aim of this study is to define the determinants of SA in Iraq using AlKindy College of Medicine/University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq as a case study. Methods: This is a qualitative research using open-ended questions through an online mode; data were analyzed using the content analysis technique. Results: Different themes related to the roles of medical schools, stakeholders, medical schools' mission, curriculum content, research characteristics, service characteristics, enhancers of SA, and accreditation role were identified. The themes are meant to characterize a socially accountable medical school within the context of Iraq. Discussion: The study needs to be replicated in different medical schools to successfully build the national determinants of SA.