Iranian Journal of Medical Education
Year:2011 | Volume:11 | Issue:3 (32)|Papers Count:18

Introduction: Entrance to university is accompanied with major changes in social relationships, expectations and roles that make the students susceptible for mental problems. The aim of this study was to determine the association between mental health and educational stressful factors among students of Kerman Nursing and Midwifery School.Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study carried out on all students selected by census (325 students) studying in Kerman Nursing and Midwifery School in year 2008. The data were collected through General Health Questionnair (GHQ-28) and a researcher made questionnaire on demographic and educational stressful factors. The data were analyzed by SPSS13 through descriptive and analytical (x2 and Pearson correlation tests) statistics. Significance level was set as P≤0.05.Results: Out of 300 students studied, 28% were suspected to have psychological disorders. These disorders were 28.9% and 26.5% among females and males respectively. There was a statistical correlation between mental health and previous physical illnesses (p<0.05). There was a significant correlation between stressful factors experienced (separation from the family, worriedness about job in future, education dissatisfaction and financial problems) with mental health.Also there was a significant correlation between mental health and educational stressful factors such as negative attitude in community about nursing and ambiguity about professional role of nurses at the time of education (p<0.05).Conclusion: With regard to the findings of the study, a number of nursing students are susceptible to mental disorders. Therefore contemplation about educational stressful factors to deminish mental problems is recommended.

Introduction: Nurturing critical thinking is one of the nursing educational goals in Iran. Assessing the critical thinking ability of nurses’ and nursing students' and the effect of current instructional strategies to foster it can assist to determine the efficacy or probable inadequacy of the educational system. The present study reviews the published studies on critical thinking in nursing, in Iran.Methods: This paper reviewed studies concerning critical thinking in nursing, paying particular attention to the effect of academic education on nursing students' critical thinking ability in Iran. This systematic review searched internal resources such as Iranmedex, SID, Magiran and library sources from 2003 through 2009.Other sources such as Pubmed and Elsevier were used for discussion. The key words used were “critical thinking”, “nursing” and “nursing education”.Results: The literature review showed nurses’ and students' critical thinking ability in Iran is low. It also showed that academic education did not have a significant effect on critical thinking.Conclusion: Low critical thinking skills score of nurses and nursing students in literature review asserted that it is necessary to reassess current educational strategies. It is also essential to consider probable insufficiency of critical thinking instruments.

Introduction: Evidence shows problems like feelings of dislike for the profession, job inconsistency, and low rate of career success have increased among the Iranian vets in the recent years. We have studied the correlation between personality congruence of Iranian veterinary students with their field of study to find the cause of the mentioned problems.Methods: In this survey study, we administered the Holland Personality-Career Test (Self-Directed Search or SDS test) to 250 students of 6 faculties of veterinary medicine including 3 state universities (Tehran, Shiraz and Shahrekord) and 3 Azad universities (Shahrekord, Karaj, and Kazeroon).Results: The personality type of the majority of the students was investigative, realistic and social, respectively. Congruence between students’ personality types and their field of study (veterinary medicine) was obtained as 59.09% for perfect congruence, 17.36% for average congruence, 12.81% for low congruence, and 10.74% for no congruence.Conclusion: On the basis of the results of this study which indicate one forth (1/4) of the students have shown low congruence or no congruence, we suggest that tests such as Holland test be used in the admittance procedure to select the most prosperous students in the future, and therefore, students themselves feel satisfied to study and work in this field, which could improve the quality of veterinary medicine in general.

Introduction: With regard to general benefits of e-learning in medical education, and the necessity of paying attention to it, this study was to assess the strength and weak points of web-based teaching in medical mycology course.Methods: In this descriptive comparative study conducted on pharmacy students in the first semester of 2009-2010, parallel to attendance and the traditional teaching sessions (classroom training) for medical mycology, web-based training was simultaneously used. At the end of the semester, the effect of web based learning was investigated through comparison of the grade averages of students in experiment and control groups. The students’ viewpoints on the advantages, disadvantages, students’ interest, educational motivation, and the ability and capability of virtual education were also surveyed, using a researcher-made questionnaire.Results: Comparison of mean final test scores at the end of the course in experiment and control groups (16.83 vs 17) showed no significant difference between students’ learning in blended style, and traditional groups. In the survey, students indicated the advantages of web based learning as: constant teacher- sudent communication (91%), distance education and scientific exchage (79%), access to up to date world electronic sources (75%), and no time and place limitations (54%). The disadvantages and limitations were indicated as low university facilities and resourses, low speed of internet, and not easy and allowable access of all to internet.Conclusion: Despite the satisfaction expressed by the students from web-based education, comparison of students’ grade averages in experiment and control groups, revealed and evidence for lack of success in web based education. So, different aspects of e-learning, including computer literacy, infrastructure of telecommunications, the culture of Internet use, leisure and entertainment aspects of Internet content, and curriculum, should be revisited.

Introduction: Negative attitudes toward psychiatric patients and mental health nursing have been recognized as a major barrier to sustaining adequate psychiatric nursing workforce. Most previous researches explored the effect of theory and clinical education on students’ attitude. This study aimed at investigating the effect of blended clinical teaching on nursing students’ attitude toward psychiatric patients.Methods: In this quasi-experimental study 85 nursing students (47 in the experiment group, 37 in the control group) were studied and their attitude was measured before and after training. The experiment group attended a blend of clinical learning opportunities (including group therapy and game therapy, patient interview and education sessions) in addition to routine training.Results: Attitudes of the two groups before training were not significantly different (P>0.05). But attitude of the experiment group after training was higher than that of the control group(41.9±5.7, 35.2±3.7 P≤0.01).Conclusion: The findings suggest that blended clinical teaching in mental health education can positively influence attitudes, readiness to practice, and the acceptability of mental health nursing.

Introduction: There is a growing pace in using portfolio in clinical education of nursing students. Although qualitative researches have shown that this method may enhance clinical learning of students, up to now, this effect has not been proved with quantitative methods. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to assess the effect of clinical education and assessment through portfolio on cognitive learning of nursing students in clinical settings.Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted in Tabriz nursing and midwifery faculty. The population studied consisted of all final year nursing students divided into two groups of control (15 students) and experiment (20 students) through non-random method. Education and clinical assessment with regard to cognitive goals in coronary care unit were done by portfolio in study group, and by a blend of traditional methods in control group. A researcher made cognitive test was designed to measure learning. The data were analyzed by dependent and independent t- test through SPSS.Results: Both blended and portfolio methods significantly enhanced the cognitive learning of nursing students. Portfolio significantly enhanced cognitive learning of nursing students more than the blended method.Conclusion: Portfolio is a suitable method to enhance cognitive learning of nursing students in clinical settings, but this finding needs further investigation.

Introduction: There is a need for revising our nursing educational curriculum regarding emergencies and crisis management. This study aimed to explore students and instructors' experiences and perspectives about emergency and crisis management in nursing.Methods: In this qualitative study by using a content analysis approach four faculty members, and seven senior and junior undergraduate nursing students were selected through purposeful sampling method. Semistructured interviews were held to gather data. All interviews were transcribed andanalysed manually.Results: The analysis of the transcripts showed four main themes including management and coordination, management and planning of theoretical instruction, management and planning of clinical instruction, students' knowlegeability. One final theme as management was recognised.Conclusion: The compromising factors in the process of emergency nursing education are related to ineffective management and lack of continuous evaluation of the final product of the process. Evaluating the educational process and conducting studies in order to employ their results in practice will be precious in empowering students and promoting their capabilities.

Introduction: One approach for the promotion of medical education is to evaluate the university professors’ teaching performance. A commonly-used technique is the student-based evaluation. This study aimed at determining the effective factors in the student-based evaluation of the university teachers’ performance in clinical education.Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional survey performed on medical residents in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in June 2009. Data was collected by a questionnaire containing 44 items arranged in two sections. The respondents evaluated the statements on a five level Likert scale. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS-16.Results: In the clinical education domain, 94.4% of residents evaluated "the education during operation" as the most important factor. Other important factors were "the explanation ability" (86%) in the teaching ability domain, the "professors' knowledge ability and expertise" (93.5%) in the knowledge and skill domain, and "non-judgmental and non-humiliating behavior" (79%) in the personal characteristics and comportment domain. From the residents’ viewpoint, the most important educational domain affecting the evaluation of the academic members were the clinical education domain (average 4.39%) and the professors' knowledge ability and expertise (average 4.29%).Conclusion: Considering the nature of residency, practical training is of great importance. This study indicated that residents also consider practical training factors influential in evaluating their professors’ performance. The study pinpointed clinical education, teaching ability, comportment and personal characteristics, and knowledge and skill domain as important domains in evaluating university professors.

Introduction: Clinical teaching is a major part of medical education without which it is impossible to train competent physicians .With regard to the complexity of clinical teaching, current changes in medical environment and diverse roles of clinical teachers, the necessity of doing a comprehensive study on such phenomenon, was felt. This study aimed to explore effective background factors of clinical education based on clinical teachers’ experiences.Methods: This is a qualitative study with conventional content analysis. Data were collected through purposive sampling and semi-structured interviews conducted with clinical teachers, informal interviews conducted with the students, and field observations.Results: Based on the obtained results of coding steps, educational structure, professional duties and motivational elements were background factors affecting clinical teaching. Education time constraints, diverse and overloaded duties of clinical teachers, lack of financial support, lack of an appropriate position for teaching, priority of research over education and the challenges in teachers’ role are the most important factors affecting clinical teaching.Conclusions: Making a change in educational structure to have a culture that values clinical teaching and respects that as a service can solve a lot of clinical teaching and clinical teachers’ problems. The findings of the present study can help the authorities in medical universities and faculty members to take strategies to promote the quality of clinical teaching.