Strides in Development of Medical Education
Volume:4 Issue: 1, 2007

Health literacy is defined as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services required for making appropriate health decisions. The aim of this study was to estimate the level of health literacy and to determine the factors influencing it using valid instrument. In a Population-based household survey in 5 cities and 5 villages of Boushehr, Mazandaran, Kermanshah, Ghazvin and Tehran provinces, 1086 adults aged 18 and older were enrolled into the study. Health literacy was measured by the questionnaire designed for test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA) after validation. Regression analysis was used to determine the association of demographic factors and level of health literacy. The average response rate was 70.8% in the studied clusters. From all participants, 61.4% were female and the rest were male. Mean age of participants was 38.1 years. Seventeen percent of the study population was illiterate and 36% had diploma or higher education. The level of health literacy was adequate in 28.1%, borderline in 15.3% and inadequate in 56.5% of the subjects. Mean score of health literacy was 45.3 in males and 41.1 in females (P=0.057). However, after adjustment for educational level in the regression model, health literacy was found to be higher in females (P=0.14). Limited health literacy was also associated with lower economic status (P=0.004). This study indicates that the level of health literacy is low in Iran. Educational level was the most important determinant of health literacy and the most increase was seen in subjects with more than 8 years education. Lower health literacy in women, older people and rural inhabitants was mainly due to lower educational levels in these groups.

One of the most important goals of clinical education is ensuring from students’ clinical competency. In such process, the evaluation of clinical skills is one of the most important challenges. The aim of the present study was to introduce some of the important concepts related to the evaluation of clinical skills. Using phenomenological approach, participants were selected from students and teachers of Isfahan Nursing and Midwifery School. A purposive sample of 18 individuals (10 nursing students and 8 clinical teachers) who had experience d at least one course of clinical education was recruited. An in-depth interview was undertaken and Colaizzi met hod was used for data analysis. The reliability and validity of the study was grounded on the four items (factual value, applicability, consistency and neutrality). The transcribed interviews were analyzed in the seven stages of analysis. Emerging codes were categorized in the following three major themes: Triangulation in evaluation, the atmosphere of clinical evaluation and Evaluation syndrome. Based upon an emphasis on the relationship among clinical evaluation environment (physical and psychosocial), the characteristics of the evaluator and the evaluated and relevant concepts, the findings of the present study identified a need for the integration of all influential factors in the process of clinical evaluation. Findings also suggest that clinical evaluation has to enjoy relevant models including various influential factors rather than strict structured tools.

The responsibilities of boards of trustees in Iranian universities are more restricted comparing to those in the developed countries. Therefore, doing a comprehensive study in order to develop the functions and authorities of boards of trustees in Iranian universities is of a great importance. The aim of the present study was to find the opinions of members of universities’ boards of trustees and councils about the domain of their responsibilities and their role in the autonomy of public universities affiliated to Iran Ministry of Sciences, Research and Technology. First, a questionnaire consisted of 66 items listing the responsibilities of boards of trustees in the universities of some other countries was prepared. Then, by using stratified random sampling 20 universities were selected and their members of boards of trustees and councils were asked to indicate their level of agreement for the 66 listed items of the prepared questionnaire as well as their opinions about the universities’ autonomy and role of boards of trustees in this regard. From 230 respondents, 83% agreed with the appropriateness of 55 functions for boards of trustees in Iranian universities. Means (±SD) of agreement with listed functions, universities autonomy and role of boards of trustees in it were respectively 3.60 (±0.59), 3.49 (±0.65), and 3.18 (±0.72) that all are significantly higher than the accepted levels (p<0.001). There was no significant difference between the members of boards of trustees and councils in regard to the appropriateness of the listed functions. In whole, the appropriateness of the listed functions for boards of trustees in Iranian universities, autonomy of universities and role of boards of trustees in this relation were approved respectively by 83%, 86.7% and 76.5% of the respondents. In order to give more autonomy to the universities, it is recommended that the functions of boards of trustees in Iran universities to be reviewed and modified by using the appropriate agreed functions yielded in this research.

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is defined as the application of the best research evidence in making decisions in the management of the individual patient. EBM, due to its importance, has obtained great consideration in recent years. This study was designed to determine the knowledge of Medical residents in Shiraz School of Medicine about EBM and the application of it by them. In this cross-sectional study performed in 2006, 71 residents of Shiraz School of Medicine were studied by using a questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaire was approved by getting experts’ opinions and internal consistency reliability was determined in a pilot study. In whole, 93.9% of residents had positive attitudes toward EBM, but 80.3% of them reported that they had not passed any formal education in this field. From all participants, 85% have access to internet but more than 70% of them were not aware of EBM resources and 60.9% of them mentioned that for the management of their patients during the previous year they had used Medline or other search engines less than 10 times. According to the obtained results, in spite of positive attitude toward EBM and internet access, residents have not yet integrated the use of EBM with their professional practice widely, and also they are not familiar with specific EBM Sites. This may be due to the lack of education in the field of EBM. Because of the important role of Medical residents in making clinical decisions and also their role in training Medical students, inclusion of EBM training courses in their educational program is highly necessary.

The validity of a thesis is important from two perspectives. First, the research issue, by itself, and second the references that are used in the research. The present study was designed to investigate the bibliographies of the theses of Medical students in Rafsanjan University. In this cross-sectional study, all of the defended theses of Rafsanjan Medical students from 1993 to 2003 (a total of 332 theses) were evaluated. Bibliographies were assessed by using a check list. Data analysis was done by applying descriptive and analytical statistical methods. Mean (±SD) of the number of references was 25.9(±18.99) and 1.2% of the theses have not used any references. There was no reference to electronic publications and review articles in the studied theses. English articles had the highest rate of citation (16.1%) and abstracts presented in the congresses the lowest (0.08 %). In whole, 61-100% of the references belonged to five years prior to the study. In 88.5% of the theses, bibliography writing was according to the standard styles. It is suggested that by planning educational workshops, students be taught to benefit from using more recent scientific published or electronic references in writing their theses.

One of the greatest problems of the present century is the uncontrolled increase in population and control of this increase is among the most important priorities of every society if it is to achieve the goals of health and development. Proper education, via creating a change in individual's attitudes and way of thinking, is considered as a basic step in achieving the goals of family planning. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of family planning course presented in universities on knowledge and attitude of students toward contraceptive methods. This quasi-experimental study (before-after) performed on 234 female students of Islamic Azad University/Abadan branch who attended the population and family planning course in the first semester of the academic year 2005-2006. Subjects were selected by non-random and convenience sampling. Data were collected using a questionnaire distributed once before and once after attending the family planning course. According to the results, 66.1% of the students were in the age range of 20-24 years, 11.7% were married, 17.7% were employed, and 83.6% were students of associate degree and 16.4% bachelor degree. Mean (±SD) knowledge score of students was 3.65(±1.79) before the course that raised to 8.89(±2.6) after the course (P=0.001). Mean (±SD) attitude score of students before the intervention was 5.88(±1.99) that rose to 7.27(±2.01) after the intervention (p=0.003). Based on the results of this study, family planning programs should be based on training, since an increase in awareness and attitude of people, resulting from efficient educational programs, paves the way for using safe contraceptive methods and change of reproductive behaviors.

Education is one of the most basic necessities of human communities and an important base of continuous development. Variation in teaching methods is an obvious need in our complicated world and selecting the most appropriate teaching method is the key issue at every stage of learning process. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of two teaching methods of group discussion and lecturing on the learning rate of the students of Laboratory Medicine in Medical Parasitology and Mycology course in Yazd Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences and Health Services during the academic year of 2005-006. This semi-experiential study carried out on 50 students of Laboratory Medicine selected by purposive sampling method. The students divided into two groups matched for age, sex and average scores of their last two semesters. One group was taught by using group discussion method and the other group by the traditional lecturing method for 8 sessions each lasting 30 minutes. Data collection was done by a questionnaire including demographic information and 50 questions of Medical Parasitology and Mycology given to the subject as class quizzes, midterm exam, final exam and a test one month after the instruction sessions (25 questions were on taxonomy I, 15 ones on taxonomy II and 10 questions on taxonomy III). From 50 students, 30 ones (60%) were female and 20 ones (40%) were male. According to the findings, both methods increased the level of knowledge significantly, but this increase was more in discussion group comparing to the lecture group (P=0/002 and P=0/003). The research findings show a higher rate of learning for group discussion method that is due to the more efficacy of this method in promoting inter-group relations, brain-storming, group-activity, group assimilation, and elevating level of judgment and analytic ability. Therefore, this teaching method is suggested especially for teaching Medical Parasitology and Mycology.

The rate of using new information services such as Internet is an important criterion for the assessment of development. This study was designed to determine the rate of using internet and biomedical databases by academic staffs of Kerman Medical University (KMU), and their attitude towards the available services. In this cross-sectional study, 120 individuals referring to the KMU Information Center during a period of three months (the first semester of 2006) were selected by convenience sampling and examined by a self-reported questionnaire consisted of 4 sections related to the demographic features, subjects’ opinions about the availability of soft/hardware and subjects’ attitude and practice in regard to using Internet. The response rate was 74%. About 64% of the subjects had personal computers at home of whom only 53.5% had internet connection. Only 35% of male respondents and 20% of female respondents had access to KMU Internet connection (P=0.12). Among 97% of subjects who had active e-mail addresses, only 21.3% used KMU e-mail service. About 73% of the subjects were using the subscribed full-text databases of KMU. Science direct, Ovid, Blackwell, Image MD and MD Consult were respectively the most used sources. According to the subjects, Internet connection at home had a significant positive effect on their professional communications and use of e-mail services (P<0.03). More than 95% of the subjects accepted the important role of Internet on improving their professional activities. According to the respondents, the main obstacles for optimal use of Internet in this center were slow-speed Internet and lack of access to the center at their favored times. In spite of positive attitude toward Internet advantages, the rate of using Internet (especially at homes) and Full-texts databases is low among KMU academic members and these facilities are available only for one fourth of the target population of KMU staffs and students.