Journal of Medical Education for Future Demands
Year:2015 | Volume:14 | Issue:1|Papers Count:7

Background and purpose: The conventional lecture-based teaching method that has been used to transit theoretical knowledge to the participants is inadequate. Due to some issues with this didactic approach, it is believed that integration of this approach with an active method may be more valuable in nursing education. In this study, we hypothesized that integrating lecture-based teaching within clerkship course would enhance the knowledge of nurse-anesthesia students.Methods: This prospective randomized study was conducted on 24 students of second-year nurse-anesthesia course. All students received either didactic lectures or integrated lectures within the clerkship course during a 4-month semester of their educational curriculum. Their knowledge of anesthesia course was assessed at the end of the course using the Wilcoxon Rank test.Results: The adopted integrated method improved the students’ final scores at the end of the semester (p=0.004). Moreover, their scores were much improved in taxonomy-2 questions (p=0.001).Conclusions: Incorporating a didactic lecture approach within anesthesia clerkship course improves the knowledge of the participants in the anesthesia course.

Background and purpose: Studies have shown the advantages of e-CME programs. Developing case-based e-CME activities, which is a popular format of e-CME programs, is difficult and time-consuming. In this article, we have discussed our experience in designing instructional system for creating case-based e-CME contents.Methods: We designed the instructional system in five steps (i.e., system analysis, design, development, delivery, and evaluation) to create e-contents. We held several sessions with subject experts to analyze the system. Then, we determined the contents’ framework and created a plan for faculty members’ development and incentives. In the development phase, we held workshops for faculty members and trained e-learning advisors who were to help faculties create contents. Incentives were legitimized. Then, we delivered programs to the learners who would fill a program evaluation questionnaire after completing the study of each program.Results: A total of 20 e-CME programs were developed and delivered to the learners and a total of 3644 learner-programs were studied. The cases rated the programs as 4.56 (SD=0.65) on a 1-5 Likert-type scale.Conclusions: Results showed that the learners rated this learning activity highly. However, we faced some challenges in developing the contents. In future, designing a comprehensive instructional system would help overcome these barriers.

Background and purpose: While learner-centered language teaching has been advocated in higher education in the recent years, teacher-centered pedagogical styles seem to be predominant in several instructional settings. The bottom line is that all teachers must be equipped with a deep knowledge of pedagogical improvements and use them as instructional innovations for the betterment of their pedagogies.Methods: The present study investigates the preference of the instructors for teaching in traditional vs. learner-centered styles of teaching at the Zanjan Medical University. Method: A questionnaire was used to investigate the teachers’ preferences for either of these styles. A total of 30 faculty members of the Zanjan Medical University from different fields of study were included as subjects in this study.Results: Results indicated that most instructors (90%) still use traditional/teacher-centered approaches in the University, despite the call for a shift to learner-centered approaches.Conclusions: This study indicated that the instructors needed more facilities and enhanced fundamental knowledge of learner-centered approaches in order to apply this mode of instruction in their teaching process.

Background and purpose: Presently, the method of medical teaching has shifted from lecture-based to computer-based. The learning style may play a key role in the attitude toward learning computer. The goal of this study was to study the relationship between the learning style and attitude toward computer among Iranian medical students.Methods: This cross-sectional study included 400 medical students. Barsch learning style inventory and a questionnaire on the attitude toward computer was sent to each student. The enthusiasm, anxiety, and overall attitude toward computer were compared among the different learning styles.Results: The response rate to the questionnaire was 91.8%. The distribution of learning styles in the students was 181 (49.3%) visual, 106 (28.9%) auditory, 27 (7.4%) tactual, and 53 (14.4%) overall. Visual learners were less anxious for computer use and showed more positive attitude toward computer. Sex, age, and academic grade were not associated with students’ attitude toward computer.Conclusions: The learning style is an important factor in the students’ attitude toward computer among medical students, which should be considered in planning computer-based learning programs.

Background and purpose: An open-book exam permits the examinees to consult some specific selected reference sources or materials while answering the exam questions. This study focused on the students' perspectives of open-book examinations in the histology/embryology courses, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences (ZUMS), Zahedan, Iran.Methods: The survey was conducted via a questionnaire after open-book examinations had been conducted in the histology and embryology courses, between 2009 and 2010. Of the 254 students who entered the new education system, 160 students were selected at random.Results: The results revealed that 72% of the students preferred the open-book type to the closed-book kind of examinations. Most of the students voiced that this type of examination was more suited to test high cognitive learning skills and solving real life situation problems, involving less stress while preparing for and taking the exam. They also mentioned that their marks in these examinations were not higher than those from the closed-book examinations. The overall satisfaction scores of the students of the biological sciences were significantly (p<0.001) higher than those of the medical sciences students (16.28±4.17 vs. 12.65±5.16); in the government run university students it was significantly (P<0.001) higher than in the international university students (14.93±4.53 vs. 10.24±5.08); the embryology course results were significantly (p<0.001) higher than the histology course (15.23 ± 4.07 vs. 12.79±5.4) and among the MD students it was significantly (p<0.001) lower than those of the BSc students (12±5.1 vs. 15.93±4.29). There was a positive correlation between the scores they acquired in their course and the overall satisfaction scores with the open-book type of examinations (r=0.46, p value=0.01).Conclusions: The finding of a positive response towards the open-book examination augurs well for extending such a type of examination to other subjects in our university.

Background and purpose: Partial knowledge is one of the main factors to be considered when dealing with the improvement of the administration of Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) in testing. Various strategies have been proposed for this factor in the traditional testing environment. Therefore, this study proposed a Confidence Based Assessment (CBA) as a pertinent solution and aims at comparing the effect of the CBA Scoring system with that of the conventional scoring systems (with and without negative score estimation as penalty) on the students’ scores and estimating their partial knowledge on clinical studies.Methods: This comparative study was conducted using a standardized clinical knowledge exam for 117 clinical students. After two-step training, both the conventional MCQ and CBA examination was given in a single session simultaneously. The exam included 100 questions and the volunteers were requested to complete a questionnaire regarding their attitude and satisfaction on their first experience of the CBA after exam. A new confidence based marking system was selected for the scoring, which was a hybrid of the UCL and MUK2010 systems. The MCQ-Assistant, SPSS and Microsoft office Excel software were used for scoring and data analysis.Results: The mean age of the volunteers was 27.3±5.47, of whom 43.6% were men and 69.2% were senior medical students. Exam reliability was 0.977. The fit line of the MCQ scores without penalty estimation was R2=0.9816 and Intercept=18.125 or approximately.2 deviation in the low scores. The MCQ scoring with penalty had a fit line approximately parallel to the 45-degree line but on or above it and the CBA scoring fit line was nearer to the 45-degree line, parallel to it and a little below it. These two sets of scores had a significant p value0.037. The response percentage to the CBA is higher (p value=0.0001). The discrimination power of the MCQ and the CBA for the upper and lower 1/3 of the students was not significantly different (p value=0.34). The students’ satisfaction score was high and acceptable to the CBA system and expressed a positive perspective on this system for their examinations.Conclusions: The CBA method can increase the competencies of the MCQ exams. It was found to have a greater fairness assessment, was an effective examination, an authentic testing method, with precise estimation and higher constructs validity than the conventional MCQ exam. The CBA simulate the reflection for deeper learning among the students.

Background and purpose: Student assessment is an important issue in medical education. It is necessary to use objective, valid and reliable assessment methods that are appropriate to the learning objectives and domain. The objectives of this study were 1- Development of the DOPS test (Direct Observation Procedural Skills) and identification of its validity, reliability and acceptability. 2- Evaluation of the nursing students’ skills by the DOPS test.Methods: First, the DOPS test was developed by reviewing the literatures and other related tools. Its validity was determined by computing the Content Validity Ratio (CVR) and Content Validity Index (CVI), based on the experts’ panel opinions. Then, the clinical skills of the students in doing special procedures were evaluated by the DOPS test. The Cronbach Alpha coefficient was used to determine the DOPS reliability. To explore the satisfaction with the DOPS test, a questionnaire and VAS were used. Results: Based on the results, the DOPS test showed high content validity with CVR=1 and CVI=0.94. The reliability of the DOPS test confirmed a>0.7. The respondents held a positive attitude toward the DOPS test with mean satisfaction greater than 8. The performance of the majority of students in doing special procedures was good based on the DOPS scores.Conclusions: The DOPS test is a suitable evaluation method to assess the students’ procedural skills objectively because of its high validity, reliability and acceptability. To evaluate all aspects of the students’ performance the DOPS test should be combined with other clinical performance tests.