Journal of Medical Education Development
Year:2014 | Volume:7 | Issue:14|Papers Count:10

Background and objective: Information literacy is defined as skills that a person needs in order to survive in information society. The purpose of this research is to determine the level of information literacy among students of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences.Materials and Methods: In this descriptive- analytical study, data was collected from 150 students by a questionnaire. The collected data was then analyzed using SPSS software.Results: The mean of literacy information score for all the students was 40.5 (SD=7.5) and for that of medical and \paramedical faculty students was 41 (SD=8.2). 35.3% of the students used the university research system and 24.6% of them used journals shared with Ardabil University of Medical Sciences.Conclusion: According to the results, information literacy skill among the students is at moderate level. Therefore, paying attention to this important issue is recommended.

Background and Objective: Cultural capital has a strong impact on people’s minds and behaviors. Cultural capital is not attained without personal attempt. Attaining of cultural capital needs hard work, continuous learning, acculturation, time and financial resources. Motivation as the main impetus of learning and academic performance is associated with cultural capital. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between cultural capital and motivation.Materials and Methods: This descriptive-analytical research was done using a sample of 359 students at Golestan University of Medical Sciences. For data collection, 2 valid and reliable questionnaires were employed.Results: The mean of cultural capital in the areas questioned were of 2.93, 2.58, 1.13, 3.18. The highest score was associated with the interactive cultural capital. Entrance motivation was % 49 and academic performance 21.7. There was a significant positive relation between academic achievement (p= 0.028), interactive cultural capital, entrance motivation (p=0.000), and academic achievement (p=0.005). There was no significant relation between the institutionalized cultural capital, entrance motivation and academic achievement of the students (p=0.008).Conclusion: We can conclude that with enhancing cultural capital students' academic achievement and interactive cultural capital will be enhanced.

Background and Objective: Faculty members’ performance in administrative services to higher education and society is considered in their academic promotion criteria. This study assesses the reasonability and attainability of these indicators according to the faculty members' views in Iranian Medical Universities in 2011-2012.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was performed in 13 medical universities in Iran. Using stratified sampling, 350 faculty members were selected. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to assess the attainability and reasonability of service indicators considered in promotion with a scoring scale of 1-5. Mean and standard deviation of scores for each indicator was calculated.Results: The total mean scores of 11 service indicators for reasonability and attainability were 32.18(±12.11) and 39.37(±11.58) out of 55 respectively. The highest reasonability scores belonged to “being administrator of research projects”, “administrating activities in Educational Development Center (EDC)”, and “managerial activities in different levels”. The highest attainability scores were given to “administrative activities in scientific journals”, “being administrator of research projects”, “administrating activities in Educational Development Center (EDC)”, and “effective work in scientific associations”.Conclusion: Faculty members did not rate service indicators considered in promotion as much reasonable, but believed that they were somehow attainable. Revision of these indicators to make them more relevant to the responsibility values is recommended. Also developing management skills and providing appropriate partnership opportunities for faculty members’ service tasks, and facilitating their cooperation with scientific journals and associations, might improve the attainability of these indicators.

Background and Objective: Method of student evaluation affects way of their studying. The aim of this study was to compare nursing student performance in essay and multiple-choice questions in mother and child health examination in Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences.Materials and Methods: In this study, scores of forty multiple-choice questions in final examination of 121 nursing students over four years of graduate study were compared with the scores of forty essay questions. Data was analyzed by paired t-test and Pearson correlation test with P<0.05 as significant.Results: Mean and standard deviation of scores in students were 14.72±3.7 for essay questions and 16.53±2.4 for multiple-choice questions (P<0.001).There was a positive correlation between the essay and multiple-choice questions(r=0.93).Conclusion: Students’ performance was better in multiple-choice questions than the essay questions. Use of multiple-choice questions may result in the success of students who do not think analytically. Therefore, we suggest using different types of questions including essay questions in addition to multiple-choice questions in examinations.

Background and Objective: Education quality is the first goal of administrators, teachers and policy makers in health care system. Hence, universities try to meet the needs and expectations of students. This study aimed to determine Jahrom University of Medical Sciences teachers' attitude toward variables related to students’ academic satisfaction in 1391.Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with partnership of 48 teachers. Data gathering tool was a researcher-made questionnaire with 44 questions that b surveyed academic satisfaction factors in six dimensions: individual, educational, ethical, managerial, professional, and welfare. SPSS 16 and correlational tests were used for data analysis.Results: The most important variables related to academic satisfaction according to the teachers were qualified teaching staff, interest in the field and instilling confidence in students by teachers and administrators. The results showed that there was a significant difference between educational and research dimension, and discipline and basic variables (p<05). In other cases, there was no significant difference (p>05).Conclusion: Based on the study results, the most important variables related to students’ academic satisfaction are moral and psychological dimensions. Hence, more attention to moral and psychological areas is recommended.

Background & Objective: Considering the role of universities in specialist training, evaluation of educational status and awareness of weaknesses and strengths of educational process, design and implementation of appropriate programs is necessary. The aim of this study was to compare academic achievement of present medical students with graduates from the viewpoint of faculty members of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences.Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 2013. The information was collected by a valid and reliable questionnaire that was completed by 140 eligible faculty members employed in the Faculty of Medicine. The questionnaire was designed to compare educational status of present medical students with that of the graduate students. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, One-way ANOVA and Spearman Correlation coefficient.Results: More than 50% of the faculty members stated that the medical students’ interest in attending classes, student responsibility, clinical skills, and medical professionalism were between worse to much worse than before, but students’ tendency to participate in specialty exams and to embark on research activities was between better to much better. Moreover, most participants believed that there was no difference between current students and graduates in other variables. The participants believed that about 42% of medical graduates had enough clinical skills for independent practice. Spearman's correlation coefficient showed a positive significant correlation between years of service of faculty members and their views about medical students’ clinical skills necessary for independent practice (r=0.529, p=0.000).Conclusion: Although aspiration for participation in postgraduate entrance exams and research activities has increased, in general the educational status of medical students has not improved over the years. According to the viewpoints of faculty members, medical students’ clinical skills necessary for independent practice were not satisfying.

Background and Objective: One of the main tasks of faculty members is research activities which is required for professional development. Thus, we attempted to investigate research accountability of faculty members.Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among all faculty members. A questionnaire was used to collect data. It included personal characteristics, personal obstacles, internal, external organizations barriers and the nature of scientific research. Both descriptive and statistical analysis methods were applied.Results: Internal organizational barriers with the mean and SD (29.54±08.50) ranked first. Factors related to methods of scientific research with the mean and SD (03.6±63.55) ranked second. Personal obstacles with the mean and SD (1.5±64.58) ranked third. Finally, external organizational factors with the mean and SD (9.11±5.64 ranked last.Conclusion: Research improvement depends on the existence of a research center which coordinates all internal and external research activities.

Background and Objective: The gap between theory and practice in nursing leads to inconsistency between what is learned and what is done in practice. One probable factor causing this problem is nursing education. This study examines the causes and solutions of the theory and practice gap in nursing education.Materials and Methods: Literature reported in Persian and English Websites such as Magiran, SID, SCOPUS, Pub Med was reviewed. Using the key words "nurse" and "gap between theory and practice" were used to select articles based on some set criteria. The criteria included the existence of causes and solutions of gap between theory and practice.Results: 85 articles were examined and therein reflective clinical practice and training to students aspiring to lifelong learning, role models, using clinical nursing professors, clinical teaching based on needs, curriculum reform, and updating knowledge of teachers and nurses, equipping clinical skill lab, better ways of engaging teachers and nurses were the most important.Conclusion: Many factors can influence the gap between theory and practice in nursing; the most important of them are correct method in training students, effective teaching, and paying attention to societal needs.

Background and Objective: Continuing Medical Education (CME) is a key element in increasing the knowledge, skill, quality and effectiveness of health systems. Initially the CME programs were defined as face to face programs, but for many reasons distance learning by CME programs was also introduced.Aim: This study aimed to determine the viewpoints of faculty members of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences about distance learning by CME.Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 74 faculty members participating in CME programs in 2011 were selected by convenience sampling method. The data was collected through a researcher-made questionnaire which was complete by self-report. The data were analyzed by SPSS (v.18).Results: 58.6% of subjects agreed with distance learning CME and said that they preferred over 40% of CME be performed as programs. Among these subjects, 53.7% put on-line CME as a first priority.Conclusion: The attitudes of faculty members toward distance learning programs were positive. Therefore, distance learning programs including on-line CME are suggested.

Background and Objective: Learning via the mobile phone, as a new stage of electronic learning, has been introduced to provide opportunities for transferring information and improving students learning. However, this has not been defined in medical education clearly. The present study was carried out to compare the effects of anatomy education through lecture and mobile phone.Materials and Methods: This quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design was conducted with 62 medical students at Bushehr University of Medical Sciences in 2013. The students were selected through census method and were randomly divided into a control group (instructed by lecture) and an experimental group (instructed by mobile phone). To collect data, an achievement test was used which included 30 questions at three levels of anatomy knowledge. The effects of training were measured immediately after training and 4 weeks later. Data were analyzed through repeated measure ANOVA and independent t-tests with SPSS19 software.Results: The mean and standard deviation of scores in all learning levels in the lecture group before, immediately after and 4 weeks after training were respectively 12.03±2.822, 21.10±3.294 and 19.30±4.01 (P<0.001). They were 14.3±3.706, 21.13±4.416 and 21.33±3.177 in the mobile phone group. No significant difference was observed between the groups in the post-test (P=0.1), but there was a significant difference (P=0.03) between the scores of the two groups in the recall stage.Conclusion: Both methods are effective ways to improve learning and retain information, but education through the mobile phone is more effective for information retention.