Strides in Development of Medical Education Journal
Year:2011 | Volume:8 | Issue:1|Papers Count:14

In recent years using statistics in medical sciences is increasing and statistics is an essential part of each research. At present, for each study design, and for each type of data, there are appropriate statistical methods, which yield to valid results and inferences. Familiarity with such methods is essential, especially for those involved in the field of medical research, as they might confuse majority of readers who are not familiar with details of statistical analysis and data interpretation. Other consequences include waste of money, time, and energy spent for each research project. In recent years some papers have been published to enhance researchers’ knowledge of statistics and its application in research methodology, but still there are many methodological mistakes in manuscripts. In this article we aim to demonstrate appropriate methods for data analysis. We will discuss importance of confidence intervals and their advantages over P-value. We will finally highlight common errors in data analysis such as univariate methods, ignoring power in detection of difference between groups, and using correlation coefficient to assess the agreement between scores.

Background & Objective: Theoretical and clinical teachings in dentistry are not always according to the dentistry curriculum requirements, but they serve as the basis upon which Dentistry graduates start their own practice. The aim of this study was to find the resemblance between dentistry curriculum requirements with clinical experiences in restorative clinics of Mashhad Dental School in the two academic years of 2007 & 2008.Methods: Recorded data related to the teachings devoted to posterior Amalgam and Composite restorations were gathered from the archive of Restorative Department of Mashhad Dental School. Teaching volume was determined by considering the number of lecturers and sessions of preclinical exercises in the operative simulation laboratory during the General Dentistry program. Data available for direct posterior restorations placed by fourth, fifth and sixth year students were gathered from the students' report papers. The collected data were coded and categorized according to the surface number of posterior amalgam fillings (AFS1, AFS2, AFS3) and posterior composite fillings (CFS1, CFS2, CFS3). These finding were placed on spreadsheets of Excel program and the related bar graphs were constructed for comparison of the devoted teaching volume and practice with the Dentistry curriculum requirements and the number of posterior amalgam and composite restorations. Results: Theoretical and practical teachings of amalgam and composite restorations have been in favor of amalgam with the ratio of 2 to 1. Clinically, practiced posterior composite restorations were 3 times more than the curriculum requirement. For the placement of three surface posterior restorations, amalgam favored over composite.Conclusion: Shift to the placement of posterior composite restorations needs to be addressed within dentistry curriculum, so the newly graduated dentists are prepared to place composite restorations properly.

Background & Objective: The main audience of information technology is human resources and in the case of lack of positive attitude toward information technology, the desired results can not be achieved. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate factors related to the attitudes toward the use of ICT among the students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, School of Management. Methods: The present correlation study was performed on the students of School of Management, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Data collection instrument was a standard questionnaire and data were analyzed by path analysis and Lisrel software. Results: Variables of computer self-efficacy (0.23), perceived ease of using technology (0.37) and perceived usefulness of technology (0.28) had significant direct relationship with attitude toward use of ICT. Computer experience (0.14), computer self-efficacy (0.20) and perceived ease of using technology (0.18) showed significant direct effect on perceived usefulness of technology. It is also observed that computer experience (0.27) and computer self-efficacy (0.18) have significant direct effect on perceived ease of using technology and finally variable of computer experience (0.29) showed significant direct effect on computer self-efficacy. Conclusion: Among the studied variables, perceived ease of using technology had the greatest impact on the attitude toward ICT use and also the model showed appropriate and acceptable fitness with data.

Background & Objective: The development of each community is highly dependent on its educated individuals. Therefore, recognition of factors influencing academic achievement of students and attention to these factors are essential for success. The aim of the present study was to determine the relationship between academic achievement and two factors of general health and coping styles among undergraduate students.Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 302 Nursing, Midwifery and Health students of Kerman Azad University were studied. Grade point average was considered as an indicator of academic achievement and all participants were asked to complete Goldberg general health questionnaire (GHQ28) and Endler &Parker questionnaire of coping inventory for stressful situation (CISS). Results: The Most Frequent average total score was 14-16.99 (out of 20). In 63.3% of students total score of General Health was not in the normal range. Students used task-oriented coping style more frequently than other styles (% 49).There was a significant negative relationship between academic achievement and two studied factors of general health and emotion-oriented coping style.Conclusion: Since general health and copying style can have significant effects on students’ academic achievement, the presence of active counseling centers in universities for improving general health level of students and teaching effective copying styles is highly necessary.

Background and Objective:Scholarship is of such a great importance that even the developed countries pay special attention to it, while in developing countries it has been left unattended and there is no appropriate management to benefit from the its advantages. For this, scholarship has to be considered more seriously in the planning system of the country in order to achieve the highest yield beside all expenses.Methods: Using registered documents as one of the best information sources, 366 students awarded scholarship between1997-2003 were enrolled into the study. Student's personal information at the time of going abroad, scholarship granted university, local university and students’ major and duration of study were considered as useful information and excluded carefully from electronic and paper documents under the cooperation of the scholarship office of Ministry of Health and Medical Education.Results:  Most of the students were studying in European countries (69.7%) and Australian and Oceania universities (12.6%). The average duration of study was (±0.46) 4.07 years for PhD and (± 0.54)5.12 years for clinical specialty candidates showing a significant difference between the two groups (P‹ 0.001). However, the noticeable point is that non-returning rate has been more than average for students who have received scholarship from those universities and also the ministry, while scholarship holders from level three universities were successful in science generating.Conclusion: The highest number of awarded scholarships belonged to the large universities in the country and based on the available information it is difficult to judge whether scholarship awarding has been distributed fairly among universities or not.

Background and Objective: One of the professional duties of university faculty members is student counseling. The aim of this study was to determine the attitudes of faculty members toward advising and counseling students in Ahwaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences (AJUMS).Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the attitudes of 114 faculty members toward students’ counseling were investigated using a 34-item questionnaire applying 5-point Likert scale. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire had been confirmed through a pilot study. Data were analyzed through SPSS software using mean and chi square test.Results: Fifty seven percent of the faculty members participated in the study was females with teaching experience of 14.85±8.8 years. Faculty members asserted that they are interested in students’ counseling (mean score: 4.12 out of 5), but have moderate knowledge about the advisory task (mean: 3.61). Mean total score of the present statues of students’ counseling in the university was 3.38±0.56 and that of the ideal situation was 4.05±0.38 (p=0.001).Conclusion: It is concluded that faculties have a positive attitude toward the importance and necessity of student counseling, but believe that the implementation of this process is not properly monitored and supported in AJUMS. Support of advisory teachers and more attention to their statues can be very beneficial in the process of students’ counseling.

Background & Objective: Ethical competency in nursing means performing nursing cares based on bioethics. This type of competency is an important factor in improving the quality of nursing cares. Realizing the obstacles of acquiring ethical qualification by nursing students is one of the basic necessities towards nursing education development. The development of ethical competency is one of the most important strategies which can help in improving nursing students’ capabilities and professional development. This study aimed to identify the barriers to acquiring ethical qualification by nursing students through content analysis of their experiences. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted using a content analysis approach. Convenience sampling was employed to select 25 nursing students studying in nursing schools of Tehran public universities, Tehran, Iran. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, which were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed using descriptive content analysis approach according to Graneheim and Lundman method.Results: Eight themes emerged from data analyses including lack of motivation and interest of the students in their profession, insufficient self-awareness, the shortage of expert nursing instructors in ethics science, inadequacy of curriculum, inappropriate ethical teaching methods, problems in evaluation of ethical characteristics, poor interpersonal relationships and constraints in clinical setting.Conclusion: It seems that in developing nursing student’s ethical competency, both contexts and individuals have a role. Therefore, barriers of ethical competency should be sought in various aspects. The present study provides special classification of obstacles that because of growing from a unique study context can be helpful in planning for the development of professional nursing ethics in education and clinical services. Also the findings of this study can provide a base for further researches on this subject.

Background & Objective: At present two teaching methods of  traditional and integration are used for the theoretical instruction of anatomical sciences including anatomy, histology and embryology. It is thought that the integration teaching method can help Medical students, especially in their clinical course of study. This study was designed to find the attitudes of Medical students of Yazd University of Medical Sciences toward this method in teaching anatomical sciences courses.    Methods: This study was done on Medical students who had been educated by the integration method. Data collection was done by using a self administrated questionnaire in four domains of knowledge about the integration program of anatomical sciences courses, facilities of the integration process, order of course presentation and satisfaction of the integration plan. Data were analyzed through SPSS software package. Results: Most of the respondents had moderate familiarity with the integration method and asserted that this method had moderately facilitated their learning process in anatomical sciences courses. According to most participants, the rate of coordination between the organ system was moderate. Students’ satisfaction of integration of embryology, histology and anatomy courses was high. In regard to the order of course presentation, participants preferred histology, embryology, anatomy, and physiology order. Conclusion: Attitudes of Medical students toward horizontal integration method of basic sciences courses was moderate and based on the obtained results, it seems that the best presentation order is respectively histology, embryology, anatomy, and physiology.

Background & Objective: Students learning in clinical teaching environment is an essential part of the curriculum. This study was done in order to compare the viewpoints of students and teachers in Paramedical and Nursing & Midwifery Schools of Bushehr University of Medical Sciences about the statue of clinical education environment in 1998.Methods: A total of 124 students passing field internship program and 21 ones of their teachers were participated. Data were collected through a questionnaire consisted of 22 items in four major domains of learning opportunity, learning support, physical environment facilities and teacher-student relationship.Results: Field of study was nursing in 35.5%, Midwifery in 29%, Operating Room technician in 17.7% and Anesthesiology in 17.7% of the participants. In all domains except in physical environment facilities, there was a significant difference between students’ and teachers’ mean viewpoint scores (p<0.05).Conclusion: Knowing viewpoints of students and teachers as well as similarities and differences of their viewpoints can be effective in planning for the improvement of clinical teaching environment.

Background & Objective: Nowadays early clinical experience (ECE) in Medical education has been developed with the aim of establishing efficient relationship between basic sciences courses and clinical education. This study was done to evaluate the effect of early clinical experience on the attitudes of students in Sari School of Medicine toward basic sciences courses.Methods: This interventional study (before and after) was done on all Sari Medical students in the 4th semester of basic sciences program. An ECE program in 8 sessions was designed and developed during the 4th academic semester. Attitudes of the students toward clinical importance of basic sciences courses were asked before and after the program by a valid and reliable questionnaire. Data were analyzed using Wilcoxon, Chi-square and McNemar tests and through SPSS 13 software package.Results: From 47 students, 42 ones were participated in the study (response rate= 89%) of whom, 25 ones were female (60%). Early clinical experience could only affect the attitude of students in neuroanatomy course (P<0.01). Although this program was efficient in increasing students’ motivation in some aspects such as voluntary attendance in hospitals during vacations, various methods of integration and using more clinical-based teaching pathways are required for enhancing students' attitudes toward basic sciences courses. Conclusion: ECE program, by itself, cannot improve attitude of students toward basic sciences courses, but can enhance students’ academic motivation during the basic sciences program of Medicine.

Background and Objective: Educational services should be provided to students in a way that they feel they are in a safe environment. Since registration is the first stage of educational process, this study was conducted to survey the students’ satisfaction of the registration process.Method: This is a cross-sectional study performed by stratified sampling from each faculty of Yazd University of Medical Sciences. Data were collected by a questionnaire and analyzed using Chi square, t-test and one-way ANOVA and through SPSS software.Results: In whole, 200 students (82 females and 116 males) were studied. From all subjects, 175 ones (89.3%) had been registered without using internet of whom, 96 students (69.6%) mentioned that it had been due to the lack of easy access to the registration programs. A total of 109 students considered officials' familiarity with the registration process desirable while, 7 students (4.9%) considered it undesirable. According to109 students (59.9%) officials' assistance in students’ registration based on their job duties had been desirable and only 5 students (2.7%) considered it undesirable. Mean satisfaction rate based on students’ sex (P < 0.05), local and non-local residency (P< 0.05) and the university’s faculty (P <0.001), showed significant difference (95% confidence level).Conclusion: The majority of students were satisfied with registration process in whole, but not with online registration. Therefore, it is recommended to use more advanced techniques in online registration process to make students more satisfied.