Iranian Journal of Medical Education
Year:2012 | Volume:12 | Issue:4 (42)|Papers Count:11

Introduction: In several countries, students’ open day is a permanent part of formal university programs. The purpose of this program which is run annually is to provide an opportunity for K12 students to meet university teachers and students and discuss about atmosphere (mainly educational atmosphere) of that university. This article is a report of the first education and research open day of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences which was held for high school students.Methods: In this study, performed in academic years of 2007-2008 in Isfahan, 120 students of 12 high schools having highest admission rate in university entrance exams were invited. The program included lectures about critical thinking, clinical and basic research, a video clip on university students' prevalent problems associated with research, a video show of noble winners of 2002, a panel to introduce research perspective of different disciplines in university to the students, and finally visit of exhibition of university students' research outputs. Moreover, each participant received a package containing booklets of university overview as well as its majors. Then a questionnaire for determination of students' research and education needs and interests as well as their opinions about the open day was delivered to them. Frequency measures were used for descriptive analysis. Inferential analysis was performed using chi2 and T test.Results: 68 students from 6 high schools (56.6% of invitees) participated in students’ open day and 58 students (85%) filled the questionnaire. According to questionnaires, 37 participants (67%) selected medicine as their first choice. Among major selection motivating factors, only there was a significance differences between two sexes considering the aspect of making money (P=0.031). Thirty two students (55%) were satisfied with their information about university major selection. The first choice of 60% of participants (35 students) was Isfahan University of Medical Sciences and 88% of attendees (46 students) were satisfied with taking part in this program.Conclusion: Holding such a program implies feasibility and necessity of performing similar programs to make students more familiar with universities' research and education capacities and facilities. The results also show that there is a need to give more information about major selection to high school students and also to increase their research abilities through well designed courses and workshops during high school and early university years.

Introduction: Learning about the viewpoints of participants on different aspects of continuing medical education programs is of great importance. The aim of this study was to determine general practitioners’ views toward quality of these programs.Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, the survey population included 267general practitioners selected from among participants of CME programs in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences from October 2010 to March 2011 using convenience sampling method. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire. After confirming the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, data was collected and then analyzed.Results: Findings showed that 64.8% of participants were male and 92.1% had experienced continuing education programs before. 62.9% of physicians rated the program success rate high and very high in providing up-to-date knowledge for physicians. 74.5% indicated that instructors had shown respect and rated their conduct high and very high. According to 41.2%, the possibility of sharing participants’ experiences in discussions was low and very low. A sum of 79.8% pointed out that a need for planning CME programs based on common public health and treatment problems is high and very high.Conclusion: Applying new teaching methods and encouraging participation of physicians in planning and implementation of programs and continuous needs assessment is felt essential to improve the educational programs.

Introduction: Web-based education is among the newer and more active methods for promotion of educational quality which enjoys advantages such as accessibility, unlimited and abundant participation of learners and its flexibility. This study aimed to investigate the effect of web-based education on cognitive learning of nursing students of Urmia University of Medical Sciences in 2010.Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-and-post test design. All of the senior nursing students of Urmia University of Medical Sciences (42 people) were chosen as the study sample, and randomly divided into two, conventional and web-based groups. The intervention method for the first group was a web-based education course on cardiac disrhythmia and for the second group it consisted of a 6-hour lecture course on the same subject. The students’ knowledge in both groups was measured at the beginning and end of each course with pre and post tests. And the scores were compared through paired T- test.Results: The mean and standard deviation of the students’ scores before and after applying the conventional method were 16.67±3.92 and 17.85±3.49 respectively, whereas it was 16.28±3.62 and 17.85±3.49 in the web-based group, respectively. The study results revealed a significant difference between the pre and post training scores in web-based group (t=-2.62, P=0.016) and in conventional group (t=-2.47, P= 0.038). There weren’t any significant relationship between the demographic characteristics and students’ scores in either group.Conclusion: Using web-based education as a training method causes promotion of student’s cognitive learning and paves the way for using this method along with classic training methods in intensive cardiac care courses.

Introduction: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is one of the most common chronic diseases of the central nervous system which causes mental disorders including anxiety in patients. Since the peer group can better communicate with their counterparts and encourage them to choose appropriate healthy behaviors, this study was designed to examine the impact of peer educational program on anxiety of multiple sclerosis patients.Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study conducted in year 2011 in MS Society of Iran (Tehran). A convenient sample of 110 patients with MS was divided randomly into two equal groups (experimental and control). After preparing peer teachers, they held six training sessions for experimental group during six weeks. DASS-21 questionnaire was used to measure anxiety which was completed by both groups before and 4 months after the test. Data was analyzed using chi2, paired t, and independent t tests.Results: The findings of independent t test did not show any significant difference between anxiety scores of experimental and control group before intervention while a statistically significant difference was observed after intervention between the scores of two groups (p=.032). Paired t test showed a statistically significant difference in anxiety level in experimental group after intervention (p=.002), whereas the same test showed no statistically significant difference in control groups (p=.659).Conclusion: Peer group educational program reduced anxiety in patients suffering from MS. Hence the conduction of this program is recommended as an effective, affordable, and effective teaching method which did not require any special equipment.

Introduction: Higher education administrators believe that discipline choice method could be an important motivator to continue study. The field of health information technology in BS level which is a specialized field in health area was introduced by elimination of medical records associate degree. This study aimed to investigate factors affecting field choice among students of medical records and health information technology in 2010.Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the population included students of medical records and health information technology in Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. Study was conducted through census in which 50 students (12 newly admitted students of health information technology and 38 senior students who had chosen this field under the title of “medical records”) were willing to participate. Questionnaire developed by researcher was used for data collection. Data was analyzed using Chi2 and the significance level was p<0.05.Results: Students of both disciplines had minute knowledge about the content of their field at the time of discipline choice. Only 25 percent (N=3) of students of health information technology and 15.8 percent (n=6) of medical records students stated that had chosen their major based on their knowledge. The role of parents in discipline choice of health information technology was 50 percent (n=6) and it was 18.4 percent (n=7) in medical records. The effect of native city on discipline choice is 15.8 percent (n=6) for students of medical records and 53.8 percent (n=7) for students of health information technology. According to Chi2, knowledge about the discipline content among students of medical records and health information technology, (p=0.004) was significantly different.Conclusion: Students of medical records and health information technology had a minute knowledge about the content of their discipline and their parents highly influenced their choice. Therefore it is recommended to train parents as well as students if there would be an endeavor to enhance people’s knowledge about university discipline.

Introduction: Having appropriate knowledge of Pharmacology is very important in giving good nursing care. However, little attention is paid to its teaching and learning. This study aimed to determine factors affecting pharmaceutical care learning in clinical education.Methods: This descriptive study was conducted at Arak University of Medical Sciences during 2010-11. The sample selection was done using census sampling. Sixty one nursing students in 6th, 7th, and 8th semesters were studied using a questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.Results: 62.3% of participants were male and the others were female. Mean and SD of their age was 22.02±1.29. Their marks on Theoretical Pharmacology were 14.45±2.34. It was determined that variables related to clinical instructor, student and clinical environment are factors affecting pharmaceutical care learning from the view of nursing students. As for clinical instructor, competence of an instructor with an average of 2.29 was identified as the most important factor affecting pharmaceutical care learning.Conclusion: Paying attention to and strengthening the instructors’ qualifications, recruiting efficient teachers, creating an appropriate clinical environment, considering motivational factors affecting students’ success in acquiring knowledge and experience and their appreciation of the importance and necessity of proper medication, and providing strategies to increase students' clinical learning can facilitate and strengthen learning process of pharmaceutical care.

Introduction: Faculty members are considered the most important elements of higher educational systems; so their recruitment and retention is one of the success factors for universities. Theoretically, social capital is one of the factors that may affect on faculty retention. This study was aimed to study the relation between organizational social capital and retention of faculty members in Kerman University of Medical Sciences during year 2011.Methods: This was a cross- sectional and descriptive-analytical study. It was conducted in all colleges of Kerman University of Medical Sciences. A sample of 150 faculty members was selected via multistage sampling. They completed two valid and reliable questionnaires already developed by others. Data were analysed by regression models and path analysis.Results: In this study, the mean of social capital and retention among the faculty members of Kerman University of Medical Sciences were 3.16±.96 and 3.13±.61 respectively (out of 5). The results showed that there is a direct and positive bilateral (r=0.65) correlation between social capital and retention of faculty members in Kerman University Medical Sciences.Conclusion: There are positive and significant relashionship between social capital and retention of fculty members; in other words, the increse of social capital among faculty members will accompany an increase in the probability of their retention. Social capital is one of the factors that may strongly affect faculty retention, so managers can rely on the factors affecting the improvement of social capital to increase their retention, but other factors should not be neglected at all.

Introduction: Improving students' critical thinking skills is clearly important in the context of growing human knowledge. The main goal of this research was to measure the contribution of critical thinking attitudes and learning cognitive styles in predicting the students’ academic achievement variance in Isfahan medical university.Methods: In this descriptive correlation study, population consisted of university students in the 2010-2011 academic years. A randomly stratified (according to sex and school) sample of 180 students was selected. Data collected using California questionnaire on Critical Thinking attitudes and Kolb’s Learning Styles inventory. Also students’ Grand Point Averages (GPA) were reported.Results: Critical thinking scores (beta coefficient=.132) and the reflective observation (beta coefficient=.136) could predict 5% of the variance of academic achievement (GPA). There was also a positive correlation between academic achievement and active experimentation. The mean scores of academic achievement as well as mean scores of critical thinking attitudes were significantly different according to the learning styles; convergers had the highest GPA and the highest critical thinking attitudes. Critical thinking attitude and reflective observation had a negative correlation (P<.01), while abstract conceptualization showed a positive correlation with critical thinking attitudes (P<.01).Conclusion: The role of critical thinking attitudes and cognitive learning styles in the academic achievement is inevitable. Faculty members are recommended to apply new approaches and procedures to respect different ways of learning and cognitive needs of the students and cultivate their critical thinking skills.

A move from medical education based on personal beliefs towards Best Evidence Medical Education (BEME) seems to be essential, in order to improve medical education systems and students’ learning. In the recent decades, an institution with international missions has been established for BEME, which fosters the culture of evidence-based decision making in education through supporting systematic review studies. A Scientific minded medical teacher when encounters decision making in educational setting, will look for systematic reviews in response to the key question of decision. If does not find a systematic review, (s) he will search for other study types and appraises them, according to their methodology, quality, rigor and level of objectives. Then (s) he plans for transferring and implementation of concluded evidences to make required changes according to her/his context of practice. Finally, (s) he will evaluate the new experience in order to revise and improve it. In this paper, the basic concepts and steps of BEME is explained with an applied language for medical teachers.