Educational Research in Medical Sciences
Volume:2 Issue: 1, Aug 2013

one of the unique characteristics of medicaluniversities compared to other higher education centers in Iran is existence ofmedical education development centers. These centers have made an attempt toenhance the quality of medical education by regular and constant activity invarious domains of educational planning and policymaking, and empowerment ofthe faculty members, students and personnel. Numerous studies published inPersian and English journals are one of the achievements of these centers.Also, several Persian and English scientific journals are being published bythese centers among which the role of the few English languages journals ofthese centers is remarkably significant. Since these journals attract moreaudience, especially from abroad, it is necessary to pay special heed to thequality of their published articles. Avoiding the publication of such articlesas “analysis of awareness and attitude” and turning to innovative interventionstudies in medical education (1) have been highlighted by the authorities ofmedical education. During the past 30 years, the planners andmedical sciences teachers have made to keep up with global developments inmedicine. However, medical education in Iran has encountered numerouschallenges, some of which have been referred to in the literature such asincompatibility of education with the real needs of the society, necessity ofrevising the syllabi and scientific resources, and weakness of clinicaleducation (2, 3). One of the challenges highlighted in the recent years is thedecreasing trend in medical students’ motivation and their academic failure.Various studies have investigated the factors affecting the students’ academicfailure (4, 5), but few studies have analyzed the practical and scientificsolutions to decrease and prevent it. Accepting undergraduate students inIranian universities is state-based and the fact that universities have no rolein the selection and acceptance of students, determining appropriate strategiesto prevent academic failure can preserve financial and human investment andenhance the academic rank of the universities. Taking the academic failure intoaccount as one of the challenges facing medical education in Iran and doingintervention and meta-analysis studies are recommended.The increasing number of medical sciencesstudents, especially general medicine during the recent years, that has causedcongestion in theoretical and practical classes and relative decline in thequality of education, is also another noticeable challenge in the medicaleducation. It seems necessary to have appropriate and prospective plan for thisquantitative increase of students before they enter clinical wards in hospitalsand to make anticipations for the preparation of physical and educationalconditions and facilities needed for clinical and outpatient training. Takinginto account of the ability and interest of the new generation of students inelectronic facilities like internet and mobile and explicit emphasis ofeducational authorities and programmers of the country in the recent medicaleducation congress (2013) on the necessity of applying virtual education,designing new educational programs and models based on virtual education can beconsidered as one of the methods of coping with the given challenge.

Regarding to the importance of spiritual intelligence and professionalism infaculty development, this study aimed to determine the level of spiritualintelligence, the level of professional development and leadership, and performanceof professional responsibilities as two components of professionalism, and therelationship between spiritual intelligence and professionalism.This is a correlation cross-sectional study with 160 medical faculty members assubjects, which was defined base on stratified probability sampling in one ofthe medical universities in Iran. King’s modified spiritual intelligencequestionnaire and teaching competency self assessment instrument of AlabamaUniversity were used. Statistical tests such as t-test, two-way ANOVA, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal–Wallis, spearman and regressions were applied to analyze.P-value <0.05 was considered significant. The results showed that the mean score of spiritual intelligence was 63±1.2,which classifies as moderate. The median score of professional development andleadership was 9 with range between 4 and 12; and the median score of performanceof professional responsibilities was 17 with range between 5 and 20. There wasa significant relationship between spiritual intelligence and performance ofprofessional responsibilities (rs=0.23,p=0.003). There was no significant relationship between spiritualintelligence and professional development and leadership (rs=0.13, p=0.11). We found a significant relationship between spiritual intelligence and selfassessed professionalism components in performance of professionalresponsibilities dimension, indicating that spiritual intelligence can be thebasis for professional promotion.

Most of the studies conducted inIranian medical schools are carried out as student''s theses on which a lot of time and energy is spent. The purposeof the present study was to determine the characteristics of medical student''stheses at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences during a five year period(2004-2008).In this descriptive,cross-sectional study a checklist consisting of 21 questions was designed. Thedata were gathered from all medical student''s theses during 2004-2008 (n=189)using a consensus method of data collection. Data were analyzed by descriptivestatistics using SPSS software. In terms of type,most of the theses were descriptive cross-sectional (33.3%), descriptive(29.1%), and descriptive-analytical (18.5%). The highest numberof theses belonged to clinical psychiatry (18.5%) and obstetrics andgynecology (17.5%) departments. Other departments, especially basic sciencedepartments had the lowest number of theses becauseclinical teachers constituted 86.2% of the supervisors. The duration of thethesis completion was between 2 and 24 months. Using hospital records andinpatients files were the methods mostly used for data collection and as datasources. Furthermore, we could not find an appropriateassessment and scoring system of theses in place.Medical student''s theses lacked appropriate quality therefore this issue should be seriouslytaken into consideration by educational managers.

Job satisfaction plays a pivotal role in the performance of university facultymembers. Identification of the factors influencing job satisfaction can beuseful in advancing the educational and research objectives of the university.The aim of the present study was to analyze the factors influencing jobsatisfaction among the faculty members of Guilan University of medicalsciences. This study was a descriptive cross-sectional research that was conducted in2012. The statistical population of the research included 139 faculty membersat faculties of Guilan University of Medical Sciences selected using stratifiedrandom sampling. The instrument of data collection was a questionnaireconsisting of two sections; the first section contained 10 questions aboutdemographic information and the second section comprised of 19 questions whichwas designed based on Herzberg''s two-factor theory. The questionnaire wasscored according to 5-point Likert scale. Data were analyzed by SPSS 18 softwareand descriptive statistics indices of frequency, mean, standard deviation andPearson correlation coefficient reported. 66.2% of the faculty members were male, 62.6% were clinical faculty members and37.4% basic sciences faculty members. The most important factors affecting thefaculty members’ job satisfaction were job security (4.14+0.96), friendlyrelationship with colleagues (4.01+0.81), and technology and technicalknowledge (3.99+0.87). The most important motivational factors influencing jobsatisfaction were interest in job (4.24+0.71), achievement (3.99+0.87) andequal opportunities for career promotion (3.95+0.99).stability and job satisfaction, creating friendly working environment, properenvironmental conditions, professor’s welfare and providing spiritual andmaterial incentives are factors that influence the professor’s job,satisfaction.

Task-based learning is a teaching method that focuses onmeaningful learning through completely student-centered homework assignment.The present study investigated the effects of task-based teaching throughdrawing the concept map as homework on the academic achievement and easier andmore effective learning of metabolic pathways of biochemistry course inpharmaceutical students. Having examined the homework assignments done by theexperimental group and having given the exam, the scores of both groups wereanalyzed by independent t-test using SPSS 16 software. The female students incontrol and experimental groups consisted of 46.67% and 51.11%, respectively.The mean score of experimental group (11.76±2.45) was significantly higher(p<0.001) than that of the control group (8.78±2.79). Task-based teachingvia drawing the concept map of metabolic pathways in biochemistry course ashomework promotes the academic achievement of pharmaceutical student.

Providing desirable services to students and meeting theirsatisfaction have always been taken into account by the authorities andpersonnel in higher education. The purpose of the present study was todetermine the student''s satisfaction of the services provided in School ofParamedics at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences (SPKUMS). This researchwas a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study in which 349 students fromdifferent majors participated in 2011-2012. The instrument of data collectionwas a questionnaire by which the student''s satisfaction for 4 domains includinglibrary, educational facilities (clinical skills center, laboratory,audio-visual), internet access, and educational counseling were investigated.Data were analyzed by SPSS 16 software using chi-square test. The mean age ofthe students was 21±2that included 15.5% Associate degree students and 84.5% Bachelor degree students.Total student''s satisfaction in the four domains was 55.3% low, 41% average,and 3.7% high. There was a significant difference between student''s totalsatisfaction and their academic years (p<0.001), major (p=0.001), andacademic level (p=0.015). None of the domains obtained a high score regardingthe student''s satisfaction level.

As an important strategy to promote the quality of teaching,the faculty member''s assessment has been seriously taken into consideration byuniversities. The purpose of the present study was to compare the student''s assessmentof the faculty members and self-evaluation. In this cross-sectional descriptiveanalytic study, 885 students and 49 faculty members participated in this studyin the second semester in 2009-2010. The maximum of 20 students were consideredfor the evaluation of each teacher. The instrument of data collection comprisedof two corresponding questionnaires that were prepared based on Likert scaleand included demographic information and teaching methodology. Data wereanalyzed by SPSS 16 software using descriptive statistics (independent T-testand ANOVA). The mean of scores for the faculty member''s self-assessment was88.12±6.21 out of 100 and the mean of scores for the student''s assessment was 79.33±8.25out of 100 that was statistically significantly differently from each other(p=0.021). There was a significant difference between the two groups in mostcases regarding the 20 questions of the questionnaire.

Assessment is one of the major domains in medical educationand the only means that makes the resident’s capability observable during theresidency training period. The data obtained from the qualityassessment of residents in Tehran University of Medical Sciences (Hemmatcampus) were reported in three categories, including of lack of assessment ofclinical skills, assessment methods and assessment frequencies.

Dear EditorEvidence-based dentistry (EBD) is anapproach to oral health care which helps to decision making in clinicalpractice. EBD is an integration of systematic assessments of clinically relevantscientific evidence, relating to the patient''s oral and medical condition andhistory (1). It is a new model for dental educationwhich is designed to increase current research into student education andpractice and also help practitioners provide the best care for their patients (2). As part of the future of dental schooleducation in many schools, it is an ideal way of preparing graduates for Evidence-based dentistry and subsequent independent practice (3). To better focus on clinical issues, dentalguidelines should be assessed initially. Systematic reviews should beconsidered to serve as a basis for development of evidence-based guidelines. Inorder to provide the best present evidence, systematic reviews should berigorous. The overall quality of evidence in coordinate with other factors(balance between treatment outcomes and side effects, patients’ variables, and cost-effectiveness of treatment) should be reassessed to determine the strengthof new recommendations. This approach is supposed to lead in proper clinicalguidelines and improved dental treatments (4). To achieve this goal one of the pivotalitem is developing research skill of undergraduate students and particularlyteachers and dental schools officials have an important role in curriculumdevelopment. Education should be initiated to discuss, develop, and implement acore curriculum for research development.Although research in medical education has apractical aspect, but it is of great significance to rely on fundamentaltheories otherwise research outcomes will be superficial and uninteresting.Considering this point is necessary for researches with a problem orientedapproach (5). If research in dental education continuesto be a free service in dental schools it may promote student clinicaldecision, better judgment of basic science. Several researchers in medical education doprimordial research. These researchers have been educated in medicine as theirprimary major and perform clinical research as well. However, when they startedmedical education, they were not prepared properly to lead research projects. Theseresearchers have a tendency to transfer their experiences and understandingsfrom their research field to the domain of medical education (5).We recommend to educators, school, andeducational officials to initiate a curriculum for these dental researchcourses and improve this situation.