Journal of Medical Education for Future Demands
Year:2018 | Volume:17 | Issue:1|Papers Count:6

Background: Studies have shown that ignoring burnout in medical students lead to worsened disease condition and paying less attention to its progression. We aimed to determine the prevalence of burnout and its relationship with demographic factors in medical students during internship in Qazvin University, during 2014-2015. Methods: 130 medical students participated in this study. They completed demographic questionnaire and Maslach Burnout Inventory at the beginning and end of their internship course. The relationship between each of the three components of burnout and demographic characteristics were analyzed. Job burnout scores were compared between the beginning and end of the internship course. Results: in this study, a significant relationship was not observed between the prevalence of burnout and demographic variables (age, sex, marital status, place of residence, and smoking). The prevalence of burnout was significantly more at the end of internship course (P<0. 05, X2=24. 09). With respect to the components of burnout, we found that the participants’ scores in the three subscales of the burnout questionnaire was significantly higher after the internship course compared to before it (emotional exhaustion t=-3. 25, P=0. 01; depersonalization t=-3. 98, P<0. 05; personal accomplishment t=-2. 11, P=0. 036). Conclusion: the study showed that the prevalence of burnout syndrome and its components among medical students was high during internship. Due to the high cost of burnout, implementing appropriate strategies for reducing it is essential.

Background: Extensive and rapid changes due to the emergence of new needs in healthcare centers have made nurses face a variety of ethical issues everyday. Nursing undergraduate graduates are expected to revise nursing care in the health system in accordance with ethical principles with their vision and ability. Obviously, the nursing education system plays a key role in shaping this process. One of the requirements of ethical skills training is the presence of a coherent and up-to-date curriculum in professional nursing ethics. The aim of this study was comparing the curriculums of professional ethics in the nursing undergraduate program in the top ten nursing schools of the world and Iran and providing suggested strategies for improving professional ethics in nursing based on community culture. Methods: This study was conducted with the help of Bereday’ s four-step method of comparative analysis (description – interpretation – juxtaposition – comparison). The QS World University Rankings by Subject 2016 was employed to identify and select the top 10 nursing schools. The data collection tool was a researcher-made framework based on the curriculum components that was prepared and reviewed with the help of the supervisor and counselor professors. Content validity method was used to determine the validity of the data collection tool in this study Results: According to the findings, the educational strategies used to support learner’ s experience of learning in the selected premier nursing schools were integration (9 faculties), student-centered (2 faculties), community-centered (7 faculties), outcome-based, problem solving, and learning methods based on the needs of the community. In addition to assessing the knowledge of students through multiple-choice and written tests, their skills were also assessed by essay writing, practical work in the lab, case study, poster presentation, reflection, portfolio, continuous examination of practical skills, classroom activities, and objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). Conclusion: According to the results of this study, it is recommended to determine appropriate educational outcomes of the professional ethics curriculum according to the professional values, Islamic teachings and culture, and community needs; and to revise and tailor the content, manner of presentation, and method of education and assessment according to the identified outcomes.

Background: To compare simulation-based teaching (SIM), lecture-based teaching (LEC), and teaching using animal tissue (ANT) in terms of student’ s satisfaction, knowledge gain and learning efficiency. Method: All the students who attended the courses organized by the CSTC from 1 st Jan 2013 to 31 st Dec 2015 were enrolled in the study. Data were collected using a questionnaire delivered at the end of the course. The questionnaire contained 15 questions using a ten-point Likert scale to rate the students’ satisfaction of the course and also the competence before and after the course. Result: 5024 questionnaires were collected with a response rate of 67%. Students demonstrate a higher post-courses score in SIM, LEC, and ANT (P<0. 001). However, neither one course performed better than the others. Student satisfaction was similar among the three courses. When specifically asked to compare the teaching effectiveness of SIM or ANT with LEC, our study showed that the answer is positive with median score of 8 for both. Conclusion: SIM, LEC, and ANT courses are effective teaching modalities. They are equally acceptable for student with similar satisfaction. When compared with LEC courses, students perceived that SIM or ANT courses were more effective in learning.

Background: Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) is a long-established tradition for teacher evaluation. Teaching evaluation has many proponents and opponents. Meanwhile, the probable effects of confounding factors such as student and teacher’ s gender, student grade, and teacher’ s personality traits have always been studied. Given the contradictory results reported in the literature and opinions of teachers regarding the potentially higher value to be diffused with the views of the top students, this study was conducted to evaluate the effect of total grade point average (GPA) of students on their evaluation scores of teachers. The study also investigated the associations between teacher’ s gender, teacher’ s academic degree and rank, and the scores of teaching quality. Methods: In this descriptive study, analyses were made in four consecutive academic semesters from 2015 to 2016. A total of 7518 questionnaires, previously confirmed in terms of validity and reliability, were completed by students of medicine, dentistry, nursing and midwifery, allied medicine, and health schools. The questionnaires contained 15 items scored on a 5-point Likert scale. Data were analyzed in SPSS software version 16 using ANOVA and Scheffé ’ s post-hoc test. The level of significance was considered at 0. 05 for all statistical tests. Results: The findings showed that teacher evaluation scores varied significantly across different GPA categories. The difference was evident between the categories A and C as well as B and C. The relationship between gender, academic rank and degree of the teacher, and teaching quality score was not significant in any discipline. Conclusion: Significant differences were found between the categories A and C as well as B and C. However, given the concerns about inflation or trade of scores and the possibility of ignoring the students by teachers if only assessment by top students is considered, it is better to use 360-degree evaluation which is a multi-dimensional evaluation. This prevents from probable biases in student surveys.

Background: Backwash or washback is a common phenomenon that exists in almost all the educational institutes in the world. It directly correlates itself to teaching, learning and student assessment. It’ s a prevailing conception that conducting exams / tests could drive teachers to teach and students to learn (also called as measurement-driven instruction). Methods: A questionnaire based tool was developed and named the Backwash Assessment Questionnaire (BAQ). It was validated to evaluate backwash among medical students in Malaysia. A preliminary version, consisting of 15 structured items was developed based on an exhaustive and focused group discussion with students, content experts and extensive literature reviews. Multi-stage refinement narrowed it down to 10 items after the process of testing. The final version was analyzed using reliability testing. For testing, refinement and review process, 90 students and 10 lectures were selected to assess the acceptability, time-management and reliability of this questionnaire. A fresh sample of 105 undergraduate medical students from semester three to five from the same university was used for the test of the final version. Results: The overall internal reliability (Cronbach’ s alpha) of the final version of the BAQ was found to be 0. 874. The test-retest reliability from kappa statistics was found to be high with k=0. 92 with P=0. 0001*. Conclusion: The study showed that the BAQ was a valid, powerful and reliable tool for measuring backwash effects on education and assessment process. We found a high prevalence of backwash among the medical students in the undergraduate course.

Background: Communication errors are frequently identified sources of sentinel events and improving clinician communication is now a focus of patient safety organizations. Medical schools also have an opportunity and interest in improving clinical communication. One area for potential improvement is the miscommunication that can stem from lack of conformity in terminology student doctors learn from academic anatomists and terminology used by practicing physicians who serve as preceptors during third and fourth clinical years. While transitioning from medical school to a clinical setting, student doctors must relearn some clinical anatomical terms. The lack of uniformity in clinical terminology could lead to a miscommunication in the health care field and become detrimental to patient outcomes. Our goal is to determine and implement a universal standardized terminology for the duodenum. Methods: We used nineteen references from six surgical, seven radiological, and six anatomical texts. We compared the resources’ terminology in describing the parts of the duodenum for similarities and differences. Results: The medical resources used five different anatomical descriptions of the duodenum among the three categories of anatomical texts. Additionally, individual sources within the same discipline of each category used different descriptions of the duodenum. Conclusion: Student doctors and teaching clinicians would benefit fromthe use of easily identifiable landmarks instead of vague, conflicting anatomical terms for the duodenum to help solve communication errors. We recommend adoption of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma duodenum nomenclature system, which divides the duodenum into four parts utilizing easily identifiable landmarks.