Integrating public health with other medical disciplines in university context: a qualitative study from Türkiye

Introduction A gap has been observed between public health and other medical disciplines, yet the nature and underlying causes of this gap remain insufficiently understood in the literature. These different perspectives can create challenges in developing a shared understanding of health problems and in establishing effective interdisciplinary collaboration.Theory The metaphor “parallel health universes”, which is used to refer to these two worlds that do not understand each other, describes the situation better. This study aimed to explore how public health and other medical disciplines perceive one another within the university setting with particular emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration. Despite their complementary roles, public health and other medical disciplines often remain separated by disciplinary, organisational, and professional boundaries.Method We conducted a multi-method qualitative study at four medical faculties in Türkiye, using methodological triangulation across in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and document analysis. Forty in-depth interviews were conducted with academics from internal, surgical, and basic medical sciences, and eight focus group discussions were held with residents, interns, and medical students. In addition, 38 selected institutional and educational documents were analysed.Results Participants generally recognized public health as a field concerned with preventive medicine, epidemiology, and a community-oriented approach, while their understanding of its broader scope was variable. They mentioned the lack of information in medical education, cooperation about public health, prejudice, and heavy workload as the barriers to collaboration. The findings suggest that the gap between public health and other medical disciplines is not simply a consequence of limited knowledge about public health; rather, it is reproduced through the organization of medical education and a professional culture that tends to separate clinical and population-oriented perspectives.Discussion Bridging the gap between public health and other medical disciplines requires more than increasing awareness of public health. It requires structural integration of public health perspectives into medical education and the development of a stronger culture of interdisciplinary collaboration. This knowledge–practice/collaboration gap as one of the central findings of study.