Strides in Development of Medical Education
Volume:6 Issue: 1, 2009

To ensure students’ research experience acquisition is one of the most important goals of conducting a thesis. In such a process, evaluating students’ satisfaction is one of the most significant challenges. Hence, this research was aimed to study students’ satisfaction of thesis conducting process and its related factors in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. In this survey, 100 medical, dentistry and pharmacy students, who were becoming graduates and were about to defend their thesis, participated. Samples were selected using stratified sampling. Data was collected using a questionnaire which its reliability and validity were already confirmed. According to the results, mean (±SD) of supervision on thesis, scientific skill development, research bases, skill development of research and thesis assessing process were 3.31(±0.95), 3.42(±0.71), 2.26(±0.80), 3.37(±0.70), and 3.47(±0.92), respectively. The mean score of research bases was significantly less than others’ (P= 0.0001). The mean score of female students’ satisfaction of research bases and developing research skill was significantly higher than male students’ (P= 0.026 and 0.04 respectively). The results of this study revealed that the lowest students’ satisfaction belonged to “scientific seminar planning”, “financial support of scientific activities” and “scientific and research atmosphere”; all belonged to research bases. As research infra structure and atmosphere are important factors in research activities, they should be among priorities of higher education planning.

In this study, we aimed to evaluate the status of World’s leading universities in Ph.D. students’ education and to compare it with Iranian universities applying the approach of educational status evaluation in a research based way. Using a systematic review, all documents present in the webs and related links of universities of first 10 countries in Shanghai’s Academic Ranking of World Universities were systematically reviewed; information related to Ph.D. education was systematically collected and analyzed. Reviewing 28 leading universities revealed that the educational model in educating Ph.D. students in 22 of them was research based and the rest are using course based model. Passing taught courses, as an index in course based model, is considered to be among minimum course requirements in most of the universities which are using research based model. In cases where passing such courses is voluntarily, a consultant professor plays a significant role in guiding the students in selecting and attending theoretical courses. Based on the above explanation and similar to other successful countries, it seems that it is time to create various models for training postgraduate students to meet industrial needs. With revisions in educational curriculums, purposeful attempts should be made to solve possible problems and train people who meet country’s developmental needs in regards with the twenty year prospect.

Improvement in learners’ academic performance is one of the main goals of educational centers. Academic performance is affected by a lot of factors; study habit is one of them. Considering the importance of one’s study habits in academic performance, this study was conducted to identify the students’ study habits and their relationship with academic performance in Abadan School of Nursing. This cross sectional study was conducted on 150 students of Abadan School of Nursing in 2007. Data was collected using Palsane & Sharma Study Habit Inventory questionnaire which was completed in a self-directed way at the time of holding final exams. According to the results of this study, the mean score (± SD) of the students’ study habits was 48.26 (±11.6) out of 90. 11.33 percent of the students had unsatisfactory study habits while 80.7% and 8% had relatively satisfactory and satisfactory study habits, respectively. There was a significant, week and positive relationship between the students’ study habits and their academic performance (P=0.001, r= 0.27). There wasn’t any significant relationship between study habits and semester, age and marital status. Generally speaking, the students’ study habits are considered to be moderate; that is to say that their study method is not of good quality. Considering the importance of study habits in academic performance and achievement, planning to improve students’ study habits and methods and interventions in this regard can be effective.

Educational institutions use different tools for evaluating their own activities. In this study, DREEM (Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure) model was used as a diagnostic tool to evaluate curriculum problems and efficacy of change in education. This cross-sectional study was conducted in four major clinical wards including internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics &gynecology and general surgery in four educational hospitals of Iran University of Medical Sciences. A questionnaire including 35 questions concerning three domains of students’ learning, teachers, and educational atmosphere was distributed amongst 53 clinical teachers in the aforementioned wards. The mean score was 116 out of 140 which was interpreted as very satisfactory. Regarding all three domains of learning, teachers, and educational environment, the highest mean score belonged to pediatrics ward whereas the least belonged to internal medicine ward. There was a significant difference between clinical wards concerning educational environment (P=0.042). The internal medicine ward’s score was 39.3 while pediatrics ward got 46.2. According to the mean score, it seems that the university teachers consider learning and teaching to be suitable. As for the least score which was given to educational environment in internal medicine ward, it seems that problems in appropriate communication between teachers and learners in this ward have led to a stressful environment. Since DREEM model is suitable for educational changes, comparing teachers and learners’ points of view and planning to solve problems in internal ward could be useful.

Clinical evaluation of medical students using OSCE has been introduced as an efficient way. Nowadays, this method is applied in some departments of Kerman School of Dentistry for clinical evaluation. This research was conducted to assess the university students’ point of view about clinical evaluation using OSCE in Kerman University of Medical Sciences to inform educational authorities about present problems together with evaluating students’ opinions. In this cross sectional study, 89 dentistry students answered a questionnaire including 12 multiple choice questions and two open ended questions. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were already confirmed. According to the results of this study, most of the students (78.6%) declared that holding practical final exams and clinical evaluation in the form of OSCE increased their stress. Only 34.8% gave a positive reply to the question concerning whether OSCE is a useful clinical evaluation method. 20.2 percent agreed with continuing OSCE and 61.3% were against it. An increase in students’ stress could affect their disagreement with evaluation using OSCE. Unlike students’ negative approach towards efficacy of holding OSCE and considering its global satisfactory results, useful steps should be taken to improve OSCE and attract students’ satisfaction, after solving pitfalls and making improvements. Further studies are suggested to assess the efficacy of these actions.

Since 2003, University Open Day (UOD) is being held in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences to introduce the University’s capacities and help students become familiar and finally select a study field. This study aimed to evaluate student's point of view about the effect of UOD on selecting field of study in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, a self-directed questionnaire was distributed amongst students of all study fields and educational levels including technician’s, bachelor’s, medicine, dentistry and pharmacy in entrance years 2003 to 2007 in their classrooms. Among 940 students of entrance years 2003 to 2007 in all fields and educational levels, only 218 (23%) had visited the UOD. Most of them (60%) declared the reason that they chose their field was their matriculation score, alone or together with other factors. 2.7 percent (the minority) believed that the guidance provided by UOD attending authorities was a contributing factor to select a field. The majority (63.5%) demonstrated that parents contributed to field selection while 0.5% chose the guidance provided by UOD attending authorities as a contributing factor. 36 percent of students declared that they chose the University due to being close to their hometown or family and only 2 (1%) declared that the guidance provided by UOD attending authorities affected their choice. According to the results of this study and costs of holding this program, revisions should be made in following years and UOD should be held in other forms.

An educational council, one of the most important parts of each university, plays the main role in solving students’ educational problems. This study was aimed to analyze the students’ educational problems in Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, according to the councils’ minutes from 2002 to 2005. In this study, 333 cases of the students’ educational problems were extracted from the minutes of 66 educational councils’ meetings during a period of four years. They were analyzed according to the students’ study field, level, turn (morning or evening courses), sex, and the state of being native. Among all, request for omitting a course, educational leave, and registering a course were the most frequent problems. Non native students’ educational problems were more than native ones (6.8% and 4.3% respectively) and males’ problems (9.8%) were more than females’ (3.8%) (p=0.0001). Educational problems among students of medicine (8.4%), radiology (7.6%), and field of fighting against diseases (5.9%) were more frequent than others. The difference between the frequency of problems in the students attending morning classes (5.3%) and those attending evening classes (5.2%) was not significant. This study revealed that the students’ educational problems were different in various study fields. There were significantly more problems in male and non native students (who are less supported by the families) compared to female and native ones. Family, financial and health problems, lack of enough knowledge among students and tutors about educational rules stood amongst the most important factors leading to the students’ educational problems.

Maintaining the international standards and research elements in dissertations leads to clearly showing the results in a scientific way. It also facilitates indexing, abstracting and easily using them in information sources. This study aimed to assess ISO 7144 standards and research elements in dissertations of different schools from 1999 to 2004 in Kerman University of Medical Sciences. In this cross-sectional study, 602 dissertations in schools of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and nursing (master’s degree) were evaluated. Data was collected using a checklist. Results of this study showed that there was a general ascending trend in maintaining ISO standards and research elements in the dissertations. The mean rate of maintaining ISO standard and research elements in references (90.81%), results (77.87%), figures and tables (77.29%) were higher than the other parts. In literature review (48.4%), thesis statement (50.2%) and abstract (55.18%), it was lower than other parts. This score was the highest in the dissertations of the School of Nursing (70.9%) in comparison with the other three schools. Our results suggest that although an ascending trend in maintaining ISO standards and research elements in the dissertations is met, but the general status is not satisfactory. Hence, it is suggested that maintaining international standards become obligatory so internal dissertations would be applicable and documented in international spectrum together with improvement in quality.

Many cases of neonatal deaths which are caused by asphyxia could be prevented by appropriate resuscitation. Successful resuscitation depends on several factors including the skill of nurses and midwives involved in taking care of sick neonates. In this study, 88 nurses and midwives in Kerman Province Hospitals participated and all completed an 11-hour neonatal resuscitation course. Among the participants, 25 were selected for the based line survey. After five months, all of them sat for a theoretical and practical test including nine stations. Five months after the workshop, the mean theoretical and practical scores of the participants in different hospitals showed a significant difference (P=0.0001). Scores of the practical test varied in different stations. The highest score belonged to “neonate’s tactile stimulation” while the lowest was given to “resuscitating a non vigorous meconium stained neonate”. There was a weak inverse yet significant relationship between age and the time past from graduation with the practical score (P=0.035, r=-0.23 and P=0.017 and r=-0.25 respectively). Practicing on mannequin and studying the provided notes on resuscitation led to getting a significantly higher score (P=0.0001 and P=0.046 respectively). This study shows that teaching resuscitation alone may not guarantee skill in people. Maintaining resuscitation skill is influenced by factors such as age, job status, practicing on mannequin, and participation in neonatal resuscitation.

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a new approach to management which must be implemented gradually during some stages. The first step is to create readiness for change; conducting quality management is not possible before acquiring enough readiness. This study was conducted to evaluate the readiness of Iran Universities of Medical Sciences for conducting Total Quality Management (TQM) according to educational managers’ point of view. In this descriptive study, the participants were all educational managers of 34 Universities of Medical Sciences including 314 vice chancellors for educational affairs, heads of Medical Education Development Centers, deans and pro-vice chancellors for education. Data was collected using a researcher-made questionnaire containing 27 questions about 11 signs of readiness. The results of this study revealed that the mean score given to all fields was 7.9 out of 20 in all universities. In this regard, the lowest score was given to allocating resources with the approach of TQM (4.6) while the highest score was given to applying TQM philosophy in behavior (10.9). There was a significant difference between universities and type three universities got a significantly lower score (P=0.02) although the numeric value was not considerable. The results imply that the universities have had an improving trend and an appropriate atmosphere is ready for conducting Total Quality Management.

Quality of higher education has been drawing more attention over the past two decades. Hence, concerted efforts have been increasingly made to assess and improve higher education quality worldwide. Some of these attempts have led to establishing local, national and international organizations for assessment and accreditation. Based on the above, this study is discussing the answer to the question concerning “To what extent attempts towards quality assessment in Iran have been directed to establish a national agency for assessment and accreditation?”. To address this question, first ground breaking experiences experience of Iran in this regard are described. Then, international experiences and challenges of building a national quality assessment and accreditation in higher education system in general, and in medical education in particular, are reviewed. Finally, perspectives of establishing Iranian Universities Quality Network are analyzed. Institution building in assessment and accreditation would help strengthening of ownership of quality assurance in faculty members; as a result, continuous quality assessment and improvement of higher education would become an integral part of higher education system.