Journal of Advances in Medical Education & Professionalism
Volume:1 Issue: 2, Apr 2013

Education is defined as an art with scientific principle. It is described as a form of learning by which knowledge، skills and attitudes of an age group are transferred from one generation to the next through teaching، training، research and practice. This is a historical review about the philosophy of medical education and its changes during the time. It is unfortunate that many developing countries follow the US system rather than those with public financing pattern. Indeed، these systems are “disease care” and not “healthcare” and are mainly motivated by profit. The educational planners in medical schools must design a curricula for students and residents to acquire a crucial set of professional values and qualities، by which the willingness to put the needs of the patient and society first.

Emotion is fundamental to nursing practice and Emotional Intelligence is considered as an important characteristic of nurses that can affect the quality of their work including clinical decision-making, critical thinking, evidence and knowledge use in practice, etc. The aim of this research was to assess and compare Emotional Intelligence between freshman and senior baccalaureate nursing students at Islamic Azad University of Yazd. This descriptive, cross-sectional study was performed on a sample of 87 freshmen and senior baccalaureate nursing students at Islamic Azad University of Yazd. The data was collected, using a questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of two parts; demographic information and the Baron Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i). The data were analyzed through both descriptive and inferential statistics (t-test, and ANOVA). The mean score of emotional intelligence for the freshmen was 282.37±27.93 and for the senior students 289.64±21.13. No significant difference was found between the freshmen and senior students’ score patterns. The findings showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the freshmen and senior students’ scores. However, as emotional intelligence can have a significant role in what one does. So this quality should be given more importance in nursing education.

Feedback is very important in education and can help quality in the training process and orient the trainees in clinical contexts. This study aimed to assess the residents’ points of view about feedback in clinical education at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. The sample of this study included 170 medical residents attending medical workshops in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. The residents filled a valid and reliable questionnaire containing 21 items on their perceptions of the feedback they got throughout the workshops. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 14. The study revealed that residents, generally, have a positive perception of feedback in their training. The highest score belonged to the items such as “feedback was applicable to future work”, “feedback corrected my behavior”, “feedback worked as a motivation for education” and “feedback was specific in one subject”. Residents who had a negative feedback experience also increased their efforts to learn. The Surgery residents acquired the highest scores while radiology residents got the lowest. The difference between these groups was statistically significant (P = 0.000). The highest mean score belonged to internal medicine residents. This shows that residents believe that obstetrics & gynecology ward is a ward in which the formative assessment is much more powerful in comparison to the other three major wards. The surgery ward received the lowest score for formative assessment and this shows that the feedback in surgery ward is very low.

Logbooks show whether medical students have been exposed to a particular disease and whether they are able to perform particular practices or not. To evaluate the training status of the medical students in the pediatric ward of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, the data about the students’ knowledge of different diseases in different parts of the pediatric ward in 2011 was collected based on their logbooks and compared with similar data in 2005. In this descriptive study, medical students’ electronic notes were designed and completed by 90 medical students trained in the pediatric ward in 2011. Then the information was compared with the data of the previous study conducted in 2005. In the pediatric outpatient clinic, neonatal emergency room, pediatric emergency room, and general pediatric ward, 50% of the diseases listed in the diaries were observed by the students. However, 19% of the patients were observed by the students in subspecialty wards. Using daily notes (logbooks) is a useful method for educational evaluation of the students. It can show the education acquired by the students, and clarify the defects and inadequacies in education. It seems that using electronic diaries in data collection increases the students’ participation and facilitates training. In general, expansion and development of new wards facilitate the exposure of medical students to more diseases and this fact has been shown about pediatric neurology ward in the present study.

Leadership style is one of the most debated topics in management (urban health-care centers), which has influenced a great number of managers and employees. The present study aimed to determine the impact of the managers’ leadership styles on the employees’ job motivation based on the Vroom-Yetton model. This study was a descriptive–analytical one and the research environment included the managers of health-care centers in Shiraz, Iran. The study data were collected through two questionnaires which were developed by the researchers, and the statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software. The findings of the study indicated that 37%, 32%, and 7% of the managers’ leadership styles were cooperative type 1, cooperative type 2, and centric, respectively. In addition, 48% and 42% of the study subjects had average and high levels of maintenance motivational needs, respectively. Besides, 54% and 41% of the employees had average and high levels of motivational needs, respectively. The results showed a significant relationship between the employees’ motivational needs and the type of service as well as age (a <0.05). A significant relationship was also found between the employees’ provocative motivational needs and the type of service; however, no significant relationship was observed between the employees’ motivational needs and the demographic variables. No significant relationship was found between the managers’ leadership style and demographic variables, either. Given that the majority of the mangers of the research society have the leadership style of consultative and cooperative, this matter can improve the employees’ provocative and maintenance motivational needs in health-care centers.

Conflict is inevitable in workplaces and it is very important to manage it in a proper way to minimize the problems that might arise. The aim of this research is surveying the relationship between principals’ demographic characteristics and the choice of conflict management styles. The statistical society included 213 employed principals of Shiraz high schools. The data on conflict management style choices were gathered using the conflict management questionnaire. The t-test, ANOVA and regression were used to analyze the data. The results of this research showed that the compromise style was the most frequently used method by principals followed by collaboration and accommodation, domination and avoidance, respectively. There was a significant association between the principals’ level of income and the use of collaboration and accommodation styles. There was a statistically significant difference between gender and the use of the five fold approach in the domination style. Overall, there was a significant association between the principals’ demographic characteristics and the conflict management style choices. Concolusion: The principals should notice that conflict is inevitable in organizations and they should consider the opinions and ideas of both parties involved in the conflict. So the best approach for conflict management by principals is to pay attention to its outcomes and choose the style which has the most benefit for the involved parties.Key

The main objective of all organizations is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the personnel’s performance and this partly depends on effective management. Managers are valuable assets and studying their behavior and personality dimensions may provide important guide for effectiveness and efficiency improvement. In this connection, the objective of this research is to determine the association between organizational effectiveness and the personnel managers’ position of control in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. The present research is a cross-sectional study. The statistical societies of this research included all personnel and personnel managers in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. 168 subjects of 8 departments were selected through accidental-stratified sampling and the data for the managers of these departments were also collected. Two questionnaires, organizational effectiveness and Ratters’ position of control, were used for data collection. The results of this research showed that there was a significant association between organizational effectiveness and managers’ position of control. However, we didn’t find a statistically significant association between organizational effectiveness and managers’ position of control in terms of their sex, managerial experience and education. As managers with internal position of control are more effective than those with external position of control, we can appoint individuals with internal control position to managerial posts. Furthermore, we can train managers to shift their external position of control to the internal one.