Iranian Journal of Medical Education
Year:2013 | Volume:13 | Issue:1 (51)|Papers Count:11

Introduction: The unprecedented growth of professional nursing knowledge, rapid changes in the healthcare system and the mandate to maintain their professional competency, nessecitae continuous nursing education; and strategies used in the process of continuing education plays an important role in achieving its objectives. This study was conducted to clarify the strategies used in continuing nursing education in Iran.Methods: This is a qualitative study in year 2011, in which a purposeful sample of 28 educational supervisors, nurse managers, and staff nurses participated. Data were collected through unstructured interviews, and were analyzed using content analysis.Results: Three broad conceptual areas were resulted from: “symbolic education”, “normative performance”, and “conscience-centered performance”. Subcategories for symbolic education were “ineffective education” and “education irrelevant to needs”. For normative performance, subcategories included “delivery of minimally required education”, and “apparent implementation of the ordered educational process”. Conscience-centered performance had subcategories of “training coverage for all nurses” and “making education effective”.Conclusion: Competent nursing performance in health system, which may result from effective continuous nursing education, is very important in health system. Therefore it is essential to motivate nurses, supervise and support effective education, in ordr to facilitate their performance improvement.

Introduction: Websites serve as an initial step toward an e-government adoption which facilitates delivery of online services to customers. The existing study intended to investigate the role of university website to render educational and research services based on e-government maturity model in Iranian universities.Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted through content analysis and benchmarking in 1390. Research population included all (37) university website. Delivery of educational and research services in university websites including Information, Interaction, Transaction, and Integration were investigated through the checklist. Using descriptive statistics and through SPSS software, the data were analyzed.Results: Rendering educational and research services through website in type I universities was medium (1.99). Rendering educational and research services through website in type II universities was medium (1.89). The mean score of all universities on integration of educational and research services was 1 out of 3.Conclusion: Results of the study indicated that Iranian universities have passed information and interaction stages, but they have not made much progress in transaction and integration stages. Failure to adopt egovernment in Iranian medical universities in which limiting factors such as users’ e-literacy, access to the Internet and ICT infrastructure are not so crucial as in other universities and organizations suggest that in developing countries e- government realization goes beyond technical challenges.

Introduction: Study of faculty members’ viewpoints seems to be necessary in order to understand the empowering procedure of faculty members and university development to create a potent atmosphere.Therefore, this study was conducted to assess, recognize and prioritize these factors and accordingly a guide to develop a structured questionnaire, to be used for assessing faculty empowerment in a school /university.Methods: In a descriptive-analytical study, using purposive convenience sampling method, the viewpoints of 53 faculty members of Shiraz and Jahrom medical universities were evaluated. First, using existing literature as well as experts’ opinions, the initial list of strategies was developed and validated; then, a questionnaire based on 5-point Likert-scale was developed and its reliability was confirmed (Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient=.85); then it was delivered to study population. Underlying structure of questionnaire was determined by exploratory factor analysis. Bartlett test and KOM index were respectively used for evaluating the sampling adequacy and appropriateness of analysis for structure identification. Friedman test was used for calculating viewpoints’ mean scores.Results: The variables of "Participation in academic activities", "allocating rewards according to professional progress", and "allotting rewards for innovations" showed the highest effectiveness (the means were 17.68, 16.79 and 16.42 respectively). On the other hand, performance evaluation by the students (Mean Rank: 9.87) and the relevant department (Mean Rank: 7.7) showed a minimal effect. The results of Bartlett's analysis and KOM measure showed that the collected data was appropriate for factor analysis. Nine factors having value more than 1 were identified which elucidated 74.5% of total variance of all variables.Conclusion: Several strategies are necessary for faculty members’ empowerment and to enforce workplace development such as access to opportunities, information, support, and resources. Moreover, effective motivation along with sense of being valued and efficient could facilitate the empowerment process. Hence, a well-organized administration based on democratic and collaborative principles could ease this procedure.

Introduction: Evaluation of university faculty members which is aimed to improve teaching quality is performed through several methods. One of the most common and conflicting methods is faculty evaluation by students. This method is commonly used in most universities in spite of controversy over its validity. This paper presents a glance at the current research literature on the viewpoints of faculty members toward their evaluation by students.Methods: This study is a literature review performed using library studies and electronic databases. First, 64 articles in the area of faculty member evaluation were studied. Out of these articles, 42 ones were selected which met the inclusion criteria. The inclusion criteria encompassed articles related to teacher evaluation, faculty members, and students’ viewpoints toward teaching approaches of faculties, teachers’ characteristics, classroom management, teachers’ communication skills and their relationship with students.Using the keywords of evaluation, student, faculty member, and university, we searched in journals such as Iranian Journal of Medical Education, Journal of Research and Planning in Higher Education, Knowledge and Research in Education, and other specialized journals in medical education area. Using scientific search engines such as Iran Medex, Magiran, SID, PubMed, Google Scholar, ISC, Medline, and Scopus the articles published or indexed between 1991 and 2010 were retrieved. Other papers which evaluated teachers and faculty members from other aspects or via other viewpoints were excluded.Results: The results were presented in three parts as “proponent to faculty evaluation by students”, “opponent”, and “teaching conditions affecting teacher evaluation by students”. The results showed that evaluation of teaching process must consider six aspects of content, students’ learning, classroom behavior, curriculum and materials, knowledge of faculty member, student characteristics (including material, students with high or low background, and postgraduate students), self-evaluation by the faculty member, evaluation by colleagues, educational administrators, and educational consultants and it must be compatible to organizational goals.Conclusion: The viewpoints of most faculty members of national universities and other countries states that they basically consider evaluation by their students as a valuable and reliable source of information for feedback to teachers in order to improve the quality of education. But, they believe that interventional factors should be identified and considered in this method. They also believed that teacher evaluation by students should be a part of comprehensive evaluation system of faculty members. But if the evaluation results are going to be utilized in commendation and promotion of faculty members, it would be better to employ other evaluation methods comprehensively.

Introduction: Anatomy is of outmost importance for medical students because of its application in medical practice. Students are a main source of information for quality and effectiveness of education and their views can be used to improve teaching and learning. This study was performed to determine factors affecting anatomy learning from the opinion of medical students of Semnan University of Medical Sciences (SEMUMS).Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was performed on 113 medical students of SEM-UMS at the basic science (fourth semester or higher), clerkship and internship levels. A valid and reliable researchermade questionnaire, containing demographic data and factors influencing anatomy learning was completed by students. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests.Results: According to the students, use of anatomical manikins (4.59±0.55), teacher’s fluency (4.58±0.56), teaching clinical applications of anatomy (4.53±0.68), reviewing theoretical topics in practical classes (4.50±0.6) and utilizing educational images (4.42±0.67), respectively, had the greatest effect on learning anatomy. There were significant differences between male and female views regarding the effect of teaching clinical applications (t=2.56, p=.01). Also students of different educationallevels had different views on the role of pre-class self-study in anatomy learning (t=6.67, P=0.036).Conclusion: Students believed that the use of new teaching methods and applying several educational devices, teaching of theory together with practical anatomy courses, developing an understanding about the importance of anatomy in medicine, along with the lecturers’ fluency in speech are most effective on learning anatomy. Therefore it is suggested that new teaching methods and simultaneous theoretical and practical anatomy teaching be included in educational programs.

Introduction: Today, lifestyle improvement and health promotion is a basic need in the world. A factor that makes this need more urgent is increase in chronic illnesses, complications and disabilities due to non healthy behaviors. This study assesses the effect of instructional programs on life style of high school students in Zahedan, Iran.Methods: This semi-experimental study was conducted on 400 high school students selected and assigned through systematic random sampling into two experimental (200) and control (200) groups in 2010-2011.Using health promotion lifestyle profile II (HPLP-52), different aspects of life style were assessed in the two groups. Both groups completed the questionnaire before the intervention. The experimental group attended a three-session instructional program and also received an instructional package. After 3 months, both groups completed the questionnaire again. Data were analyzed using independent t-test and ANOVA.Results: The mean scores of the questionnaire dimensions in the experimental (Nutrition=24.3±4.2, Health Responsibility: 20.7±5.2, Interrelation: 26.2±3.9, Stress Management: 21±5, Spiritual Development: 24.3±3.8) were not significantly different from those of the control group (Nutrition=24.5±4.4, Health Responsibility: 20.5±4.8, Interrelation: 26.2±3.6, Stress Management: 21.1±4.8, Spiritual Development: 24.5±4). Rate of physical activity increased in girls (24.2±4.9) compared to that of boys (21.5±5.1) after the intervention (p=0.00).Conclusion: To make changes in teenagers’ life style, it seems not sufficient to raise their awareness alone. A number of other factors such as motivational, social, and environmental factors might also be considered.

Introduction: One of the factors affecting academic achievement is study skills; therefore, we aimed at determining the relationship between study skills and students’ academic achievement in Golestan University of Medical Sciences.Methods: In a descriptive cross-sectional study, 292 students were recruited via census sampling in 2008- 2009 academic year. The data were collected by using Congos’ Study Skills Inventory including six subscales. To analyze the data, we used ANOVA, Tukey post hoc and Pearson correlation coefficient.Findings: The mean scores of students’ study skills was 2.44±0.36 out of 4. There was a positive correlation between students’ Grade Point Average (GPA) and study skills (r=0.201; P=0.001). Study skills of students with GPA of more than 17 is significantly higher than those of others (F=7.936; p=0.001).Conclusion: Students with school records of ‘A’ have better study skills; therefore, we recommend holding some workshops or classes to improve students' knowledge about study skills.

In recent decades, there have been numerous attempts to define precisely what is meant by small group teaching. Many writers argue that small group teaching method is among the most difficult and highly skilled of teaching techniques, in which in addition to the primary objective of teaching students to think, the tutor must have a number of subsidiary objectives if the small group is to function. In other words, the interpersonal and interactive nature of small groups makes them a challenging and appropriate vehicle for engaging students in their own learning. However, not only do tutors have to learn how to teach using small group methods but students also have to learn how to work in small groups. On the other hand, nowadays it is not only that there are more students participating in higher education than before; it is also the case that students are coming from more diverse backgrounds, so inclusion and internationalization are matters to concern ourselves with, and there is a need for providing a more diversified curriculum, that they are responsible not only for what is taught but also, in part, for how students learn. These entire changes mean that the small group is now seen as a means of fostering student engagement, cooperative and collaborative learning. Planning for effective small group teaching is as important as planning any other teaching activity.This point sometimes goes unrecognized because learning in small groups can at first glance appear unstructured. Some lecturers are put off by the seemingly informal, loose or open-ended nature of small group learning, or they fear this informality will be a recipe for chaos, whereas behind the facade of the informal group lies a backdrop in which all the learners are playing within a known set of rules which are spoken or unspoken. In this paper, after the introduction of the context and features of small groups, the necessity of planning for this teaching method is mentioned. Moreover, stages of group development and management as well as the teaching - learning nature in small groups are described. Next, the teacher and learner skills needed for teaching and learning in small groups and other qualifications required to teach in a small group, such as instructional space group, and the use of small groups in clinical and medical education are offered.