Journal of Medical Education for Future Demands
Year:2005 | Volume:7 | Issue:2|Papers Count:8

Background and purpose: After two decades of expansion of universities of medical sciences and increasing the number of medical sciences students as one of the most attainable solutions for the problem of substandard status of Iranian community health, recently, quality-based policies in medical education have taken priority over most of the national health plans. The purpose of this study was to determine differences of Iranian dental schools in the field of education by stratifying their educational services. Methods: To measure the educational performance that could be utilized to rate the schools nationwide, a benchmarking tool, consisting of about 60 indicators, was devised. Each school was asked to introduce a representative who would complete a questionnaire, which was designed to collect schools' information. In the next step, all the divisions were visited by one of the project's members and the schools representative to revise and approve the data. Then, data retrieval was performed and verified at the project's office. Finally, special computer software was exploited to perform the final analysis. Results: There were 18 public and private dental schools nationwide, which were stratified based on their individual scores. Furthermore, all schools were also ranked in each indicator. Conclusion: This study as one of the phases of Strategy Compilation for Educational Missions of the National System of Medical Education, defines the educational strengths and weaknesses of Iranian dental schools that could be used as a measure for authorities to determine the developmental limits and current stance of these schools; and optimize their budget and facilities.

Background and purpose: Multiple choice tests are the most common type of tests used in evaluating the general English knowledge of the students in most medical universities, however the efficacy of these tests are not examined precisely. We comp are and examine the integrative tests and discrete point tests as measures of the English language knowledge of medical students. Methods: Three tests were given to 60 undergraduate physiotherapy and Audiology students in their second year of study (after passing their general English course). They were divided into 2 groups. The first test for both groups was an integrative test, writing. The second test was a multiple – choice test of prepositions for group one and a multiple - choice test of tenses for group two. The same items which were most frequently used wrongly in the first test were used in the items of the second test. A third test, a TOEFL, was given to the subjects in order to estimate the correlation between this test and tests one and two. Results: The students performed better in the second test, discrete point test rather than the first which was an integrative test. The same grammatical mistakes in the composition were used correctly in the multiple choice tests by the students. Conclusion: Our findings show that student perform better in non-productive rather than productive test. Since being competent English language user is an expected outcome of university language courses it seems warranted to switch to integrative tests as a measure of English language competency.

Background and purpose: Multiple choice questions are the most frequent test for medical students. It is important to analysis the overall response to individual questions in the test. The aim of this study is to analyse questions of post graduate medical residency tests.Methods: Final annual local (Hamadan medical school) and national tests given to three Residency groups including 17 Obstetrics and gynecology testees, 7 pediatrics and 12 internal medicine in 2004 were studied. In local tests residents answered to 148, 150 and 144 and in national tests to ISO MCQS. Questions were evaluated regarding cognitive domain level, difficultly index and Discriminative index and finally to evaluate the optimal, proper, acceptable and "must omitted" questions. Results: Questions of local Obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and internal medicine tests evaluated the "recall" level in 72%, 72% and 51% and in national tests 71%, 35% and 19%, respectively. Questions with Discriminative indices of 0.7 or more (proper) were 3 and 5% in Obstetrics and gynecology, 3.5% and 1% inpediatrics and 1% in local and national tests. Proper difficulty indices (30-70) were shown in 53% and 54% in Obstetrics and gynecology, 34% and 43% in pediatrics and 40% and 42% in internal medicine. Generally evaluating, "must omitted" questions in local and national tests were 76% in Obstetrics and gynecology, 81% and 79% in pediatrics and 91% and 85% in internal medicine. The most common causes making the questions to be considered "must omitted" in studied tests were negative, zero or less than 0.2 Discriminative indices. Conclusion: Test analysis of final annual local (Hamadan medical school) and national tests of Obstetrics and gynecology , Pediatrics and internal medicine residency programs in 2004 revealed that most of the questions are planned in "recall" level, harbor improper Discriminative indices, Difficulty indices and generally evaluating are "must omitted".

Background and purpose: Health care professionals work to solve health problems of the society. This is the duty of health system to identify the gaps in health professionals' competence and asks the medical school to fill the gap. We took one important health problem Fascioliasis and determined the amount of knowledge, attitude and practices of Gilani students studying at Medical University of Shaheed Beheshti, about Fascioliasis disease.  Methods: This study was carried on i35 male and female Gilani students studying at different degrees in the age range of i8 to 37. The data was gathered by questionnaire surveys, and then validated through content validity and reliability by test-retest method. Data analysis was carried out by SPSS and Microsoft Excel soft wares. To examine the correlation between variables, the T-Test and variance analysis test was used. Results: The research findings revealed that the community under study has an average practice. In all three parameters, however, the average scores of females are greater than males. Conclusion: It is recommended to revise the educational programs for the students so that the students of every region become familiar with health problems of their regions.

Background and purpose: Internal evaluation has been a growing trend as the first step improvement in higher education specially in medical universities of Iran. However, the results of this time consuming process of internal evaluation seems to be underused. We provide a description of anesthesiology department of Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences where the results were used to improve the processes and functions of the department. Methods: A ten-step systematic evaluation methods were used to insure quality improvement after the results were reached. Results: The findings formed the basis for attempts to improve the shortcomings of the departments. Conclusion: Recommendations for removing the barriers at levels of the university management and Ministry of Health are presented.

Background and purpose: Considering the importance of comprehensive basic sciences exams in determining the academic level of medical students, this study was done to find the correlation between personal and academic characteristics of medical students entered the medical faculty of Kermanshah University in 1379 and the results of the 28th comprehensive basic medical sciences exam. Methods: 38 medical students participated in this study. An information form which includes personal and academic characteristics of medical students and their scores in the comprehensive basic medical sciences exams was used to collect data. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (percent and average figures) and inferential statistics (variance analysis tests, t-test, Mann- Whitney and KrusKal-Wallis tests). Results: 68.4% of the 38 medical students were male, 92.1% entered the university using target access schemes, 15.8% graduated from the high scrods for gifted and talented students, 63.2% has nofailed units, 674% were living in dormitories. The average score on their diploma was 18.49 ±1.20 and the average of their total score in basic medical sciences stage was 18.49±1010 The correlation of the comprehensive basic medical sciences exams with the average score in 5th term or the average of total score in basic sciences stage was the most (0.8 and 0.79). there were no significant correlation between the scores in the comprehensive basic medical sciences exams and students' gender, place of living, target access schemes and graduation from schools for gifted and talented students. Conclusion: this study showed that the average scores in different terms of basic medical science and the average of total scores in basic medical science stage al'e correlated with the scores in basic medical science stage.

Background and purpose: Although it will be one of the most critical duties and skills of a general practitioner to manage outpatients in his office or at ambulatory care centers, our present medical education is based upon ward-based teaching and ambulatory care, as one important part of medical education, has been overlooked. We evaluate attitudes of faculty members of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences on teaching in ambulatory care setting. Methods: This descriptive study was carried out through collecting data from questionnaires. Results: of 75 faculty members, 66persons (88%) answered the questionnaire. About 75.7% of faculty members believe that ward based teaching, alone is not sufficient for preparing students for their future occupation. 51.5% of them say there is no proportion between the problems observed by the students during their study and the diseases prevalent in the society which they will be encountered with later. 75.7% of faculty members chose clinics of educational hospitals as the best place for teaching ambulatory care and the same percent believed the space, facilities and time devoted to examining patients were insufficient. 51.5% of them recommended 3 students for every faculty member in teaching ambulatory care. 33% of the faculty members viewed their not having enough time, patients' dissatisfaction from students being present, lack of incentives of faculty members and shortage of facilities as obstacles to teaching ambulatory care. 33% of the faculty members viewed their not having enough time, patients' dissatisfaction from students being present, lack of incentives of faculty members and shortage of facilities as obstacles to teaching ambulatory care. Conclusions: This study emphasizes on extending the field of teaching medicine to the level of the society. For this purpose appropriate physical space and well equipped ambulatory care teaching centers should be provided. Also the problems of faculty members should be intentioned and educational programes be altered so that medical education creates a holistic and community oriented view for medical students.

Background and purpose: As achieving the intended goals in medical education necessitates the utilization of effective teaching & learning methods, in order to further retention of the knowledge, continuous research is needed to study the factors affecting the quantitative and qualitative development of medical education. This study was to recognize the factors delineated by the students and teachers as to be important in the teaching-learning process. Methods: this was a cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study comprised of 880 students and 68 teachers at the Medical University of Birjand, lasting from April 2003 till April 2004. SPSS software and statistical test of Mann-Whitney were used for data analysis. Results: In this study, teachers' and students' opinions about the characteristics of an effective teaching including Professional, and personal characteristics of the teachers, and motivation students toward independent learning each consisting of several items - were assessed with regard to their sex, marital status, residential status, educational level, and educational group. The results were as the followings: Professional characteristics of the teachers: Mastery over the subject, rational sequencing of the subject matters proper use of the basic knowledge of the related discipline, and use of simple language in teaching, were the choices rated by the teachers and students as the most important ones. Personal characteristics of teachers: self confidence in teaching, interest in teaching, clear speech was the choices most rated by the teachers and students. Amongst the 3 characteristics of an effective teaching, teachers gave the first priority to motivation the students toward independent learning, while students regarded the professional characteristics of the teachers as the most preferred one. Conclusion: The study found that teachers and students regarded mastery over the subject, self confidence in teaching, use of simple language in teaching, interest in teaching, and clear speech as the most important factors necessary for having an effective teaching.