Future of Medical Education Journal
Year:2021 | Volume:11 | Issue:1|Papers Count:9

Background: Nowadays, with the increasing number of articles in the field of medical education, the analysis of the trend of articles published in specialized journals in the field of medical education becomes important for adopting necessary measures in this field. For this purpose, the present research studies the trend of articles published in Iranian journals of medical education. Methods: A descriptive exploratory approach has been used in this study to analyze the articles published in Iranian journals of medical education from 2004 to 2018 using text mining techniques. In this study, the Python programming language and NLTK toolkit have been used for text mining. Results: The findings of this study indicated that the terms such as students, medicine, education, learning, and university are the most repetitive terms in these articles. The results of the implementation of k-means clustering algorithm have revealed that the main theme and sentence of the five thematic clusters in this study is the term "education" or "medical student education" and the subjects of the most of articles published in medical journals are in the field of education. Conclusion: The results of the present study indicated that the articles published in Iranian journals of medical education focus on general subjects of medical education such as curriculum, medical students, and teaching in the academic environment; however, other issues have been less discussed.

Background: The implementation of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) in English for academic purposes courses has gained prominence within the last decades. It received particular attention after the worldwide spread of COVID-19 pandemic. The current study attempted to probe the medical science EAP instructors’ attitudes towards implementing CALL in teaching English to the students of medical sciences. The study further tried to inquire into the barriers to the implementation of online EAP classes for the students of medical sciences within the pandemic period. Methods: Taking a mixed-method research design, the questionnaire and interview were used to gather the required data. Eighty EAP instructors completed the questionnaire and 25 instructors answered the interview questions. The participants were instructors that taught English to the medical science students in Iranian state universities of medical sciences in Tehran, Yazd, Tabriz, and Mashhad in the academic year 2019-2020. Mean values were used to illustrate the results of the questionnaire items, and interview responses were scrutinized to extract the constituent themes. Results: The results revealed that the medical science EAP instructors held positive attitudes towards the use of technology in their classes. Indeed, the mean values ranged from 3. 16 to 4. 79, which indicated the instructors’ positive inclination towards implementing CALL in EAP classes. They also pointed to the existing barriers to the successful implementation of CALL and the challenges they encountered in online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Conclusions: The findings highlighted the significance of revisiting the role of technology in EAP curriculum for medical science students. In this regard, the results carry implications for the policymakers, material developers, and instructors in universities of medical sciences.

Background: A review on medical articles and their multiplicity, as well as the studies on professionalism in the general and specially online mode in recent years shows the attention of medical training practitioners to this subject and their effort to overcome its possible threats. The aim of the present study was examining all the available evidences about e professionalism with an emphasis on medical education. Methods: This study investigated the comprehensive review of evidences in their concepts. It was conducted in term of reviewing all texts related to e professionalism through all search engines between 2000 and 2018 in an online environment. Qualitative studies with the key words of e professionalism were searched from RISMA 2009 Flow Diagram. The evidences were extracted by mixing the results of different parts and their analyzing. Results: 237 articles were checked in the survey. After checking the quality and the adaption of titles with their concepts, 23 articles where chosen and proved for this study. Examining the evidences categorized the articles in the following fields: “ Definition, concept and the importance of virtual professionalism, tools of testing professionalism in the virtual environment, people’ s perception and outlook of professionalism in virtual environment, inappropriate behaviors in using electronic environment and virtual networks, politics of explaining virtual professionalism, and the role of virtual environment in explaining medical professionalism” . Conclusions: Due to the importance of professionalism in the virtual environment in definitions also a look at the importance of technology usage in education and therapy, paying attention to different dimensions of professionalism is necessary more than ever.

Background: technology-based concept mapping is a subset of elearning and is considered a selective strategy for providing information and educational skills. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of concept mapping instruction in mobile phones on the creativity of nursing students. Methods: This study was a pretest posttest randomized controlled trial. Sixty eight senior nursing students were selected using the whole enumeration. They were divided equally into the experimental (n=34) and control groups (n=34) by stratified block randomization. In the experimental group, concept mapping instruction was carried out using mobile phones; however, the routine method was used in the control group. Students' creativity was measured by Abedi’ s Creativity Test before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed with SPSS software using the paired t-test and multivariate analysis of covariance. Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of demographic characteristics (p > 0. 999). The mean total creativity score and the mean scores on all the subscales decreased in both groups in comparison to the pre-intervention scores. The changes in the scores of elaboration (p= 0. 046), originality (p= 0. 022), and total creativity (p= 0. 036) showed a significant difference between the control and experimental groups, but there was not any significant difference between two groups in term of fluency (p = 0. 08) and flexibility (p=0. 143). Conclusion: Although the easy access of learners to mobile phones made the use of this approach seem useful in students' education, further studies are recommended with higher sample sizes and other creativity assessment instruments.

Background: It has been agreed upon by educators and scholars that one of the key successes in any educational setting is promoting the professional development of teachers. Having this in mind, the researchers of the present study investigated nursing English for academic purposes (EAP) and instructors’ perceptions of knowledge sharing. In addition, they sought whether EAP instructors’ perceptions of knowledge sharing would predict their professional development. Methods: Ninety-four EAP instructors from different medical universities across the country were recruited in the present study. Two questionnaires of ‘ EAP instructors’ perception towards knowledge sharing’ scale and ‘ a teacher professional development’ were used to gather data. A semistructured interview was also performed to explore the participants’ opinions regarding the inhibitors to develop teacher learning communities. Results: The results showed that the mean of EAP instructors' perception of knowledge sharing in the sample group was 2. 90 with a standard deviation of 0. 338 which was lower than the expected average (3). Also, there was a positive and significant relationship between the perception of EAP instructors and knowledge sharing with respect to the level of significance (sig= 0. 000) and the error rate of 0. 01 with their professional development. In addition, the multiple regression analysis showed that cultural, reflective, personal cost and sharing, and organizational variables were able to explain the variance of professional development. As the findings of the semi-structured interview revealed, among other factors, instructors’ lack of incentive, lack of commitment, and their lack of familiarity with the importance of teacher learning communities were the major inhibitors to developing teacher learning communities among EAP instructors. Conclusion: Knowledge management can become a rudimentary strategy which may pave the way to personal/professional development. This sheds light on the importance of collaborative work which should take place within an educational setting. Accordingly, some implications have been suggested to encourage knowledge sharing among EAP instructors.

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of time management training on female nursing students' academic achievement and their resilience. Methods: This was a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study with 30 female nursing students, selected randomly. All 30 participants completed the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), and assigned randomly in experimental (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. The experimental group participated in 10 sixty-minute sessions of time management training, while the control group received no training. At the end of the training period, all participants recompleted CD-RISC. The data were analyzed using SPSS (V24. 0) and MANCOVA. Results: The results showed that, based on the effect size, time management training predicts 57% and 80% of academic achievement and resilience variances, respectively. Conclusions: Time management training contributes in students' academic achievement and increases their resilience.

Background: With increase in the number of patients with chronic illnesses, long-term health care systems are experiencing significant problems in providing these services. Therefore, in order to organize these patients and facilitate the work, it is suggested that some care be provided by the individuals themselves. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of face to face and distance education on self-care. Methods: Data were collected through a researcher-made questionnaire. The statistical population of the study consisted of Bahvarzes of two cities: Khaf and Sarakhs. According to population size and based on Cochran formula, 45 Bahvarzes were randomly selected from khaf and Sarakh health centers as the statistical sample. The intervention of face-to-face training in Sarakhs health center and intervention of distance education in Khaf Health Center were used. Data was analyzed through SPSS 24 software. Results: Based on the results of paired t-test, it was found that face to face training intervention was effective on self-care of noncommunicable diseases in Behvarz of Sarakhs city (p-value = 0. 001). But self-care distance education intervention has not been effective on self-care of non-communicable diseases in Behvarz of khaf city (p-value=0. 1). Also the results of comparing the mean of two methods of face to face and distance training showed that there was a significant difference between the scores mean of Behvarz in the two methods (p-value = 0. 001) and the face to face training intervention was more effective than distance training intervention. Conclusion: Self-care face to face training of non-communicable diseases in Behvarz is more effective than distance training.

Background: Entrepreneurship has had a dispensable role in economic and social sectors, especially in the health system. One of the problems is the lack of standardized tools for measuring the entrepreneurship status in medical universities. The purpose of this study was to design an entrepreneurship measurement tool in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This is a mixed qualitative-quantitative study in two phases of reviewing the literature and expert opinion survey using Delphi method. In the first step, the variables affecting organizational entrepreneurship were extracted by examining the related literature. Afterwards, the extracted variables were finalized by Delphi method after reaching the consensus of experts. Then, in the quantitative section, the final dimension questionnaire was prepared and structural equation method was used for data analysis. Results: Six dimensions were identified for Entrepreneurship Questionnaire and 39 components of Entrepreneurship dimension were reported. The results showed that many factors affect entrepreneurship, including human factors, entrepreneurship culture, motivational factors, accelerating variables, information technologies, and rehabilitation variables. Conclusions: The designed tool can help to identify the current status of entrepreneurship in medical science universities. Given the need for current organizations to benefit from the advantages of moving to entrepreneurial management, managers can go a long way toward continually improving the organization through special attention to the dimension affecting this management style identified in the present study, as well as providing resources and facilities needed to achieve these dimensions.

Dear Editor: Information and communication technologies have become an innovative strategic element for improving health and education in most countries (1, 2). While we are amid covid-19 pandemic, it is necessary to change the educational models in medical sciences. Telemedicine and distance learning is increasingly integrated into medical education systems (3). Based on requests sent from Afghanistan (4), the present researchers aimed to develop a blended learning system as part of Birjand University of Medical Sciences (BUMS) Online Learning Management Systems (LMS) to train medical students and residents during COVID-19 pandemics. BUMS is located on the border of neighboring Afghanistan, the country which suffers from limited medical education infrastructure. In this center, the professors are processing histopathologic samples with high-quality imaging for other centers. They would hold a face-to-face course to train medical students and residents of Afghanistan amid COVID-19 pandemics which would continue virtually on BUMS’ LMS. After processing pathologic lesions in Afghanistan, high-quality images would be shared via LMS. The professors would report the slides and findings as part of a distance learning program to teach pathology courses to medical students and residents. In this way, based on the local cases in Afghanistan, blended learning would be implemented. It is noteworthy that in order to implement the above idea, experts from Afghanistan received the necessary training in a blended course for processing histopathological samples. At the beginning of the work and before planning the education section for students, the histopathological slides related to thirty-two lesions that had been biopsied by Afghan surgeons, were prepared at Afghanistan and their images were sent through dedicated portal; these slides were reported by a pathologist who was a faculty member of Birjand University of Medical Sciences. There is currently a good initial collection of histopathological images of the lesions which were biopsied at Afghanistan; this can be used as a basis for educating medical students in Afghanistan. The present researchers are currently planning to hold short-term virtual courses to train medical students in Afghanistan, and the necessary coordination is underway with Afghan officials. One of the goals will be development of joint virtual training departments between specialists of two countries, not only restrained to treatment of patients, but also, training medical students. With the complete integration of digital pathology and the use of virtual slides, some dramatic changes can be made in the future of medical education. As researchers we can even go a step further and play an effective role in health care system, and give the various burdens in less developed countries at the lowest possible costs. Ethical consideration Ethical issue (including plagiarism, informed consent, misconduct, data fabrication and/or falsification, double publication and/or submission, redundancy, etc. ) have been completely observed by authors.