میترا قریب

Information and communication technology has led to the emergence of a new generation of libraries called digital libraries. These libraries need specialized and trained staff to provide services to users. In developed countries, independent curricula have been designed and implemented to train librarians. In Iran, medical librarians do not have the appropriate training to provide services in digital libraries.

This research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive type. In this article, in order to meet the needs of medical librarians with a qualitative approach (comparative method and Delphi technique), the digital medical library program was designed.

The content of the digital library master's degree curriculum was first searched in Spain, Sweden, the United States and the joint international curriculum of Italy, Norway and Estonia. The content of the curriculum was studied. . The credits of each program and the amount of subscriptions and differences in each curriculum were determined. Then, the selected courses from these programs as well as the opinions of experts in this field were reached and ranked by the faculty members of the Iranian Library and Medical Information Departments by Delphi Durandeh.

Finally, inspired by the elements of the curriculum in the mentioned countries and the opinions of the faculty members of the curriculum, the digital medical library was designed. The results of this article can be a guide for curriculum designers in the Ministry of Health and Medical Education Be.

Today journals are one of the main platforms to exchange information between researchers. This study aimed to assess the status of Approved Latin indexing journals in the field of medical science citation indexes Web of Science and Scopus databases.
This study was a cross-sectional descriptive survey. Statistical population of the study was 83 titles Latin journals approved by the Ministry of Health that examined indexing situation of them in Web of science and Scopus databases between the years 2005-2010. Data collection tool was a controlled checklist that was established by consult with experts and specialists in related areas and its reliability was estimated 90 percent. Data were analyzed using the software spss16.
Survey the status of journals showed that slightly less than 26 percent of titles indexed in Web of Science. Also in Scopus Citation Index 69 percent of journals was indexed. Compare criteria for indexing journals in Web of Science and Scopus database show that bibliography information of not indexed journals considered and in some journals (29/30 percent) number of international standards were not mentioned. Also, some journals contact information (postcode publication 9 percent) was not included.
In general, it was observed that despite the enormous growth of scientific journals between examined years, terms of adaption with the criteria of indexing are in unfavorable condition and managers of Latin scientific journals should try to improve their quality and quantity.

E-learning is used in the worldwide in higher education to improve the quality of the learning experience by students; at the same time using this approach requires behavioral changes in the faculty members. One of the steps in the implementation and monitoring of e-learning, is audience analysis using techniques such as knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP). This study investigates the knowledge, attitude and faculty members’ performance of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) on e-learning.
This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014-15 through a research-made questionnaire. Face validity was determined by expert opinion, Cronbach’s alpha was measured to assess the reliability and its construct validity was investigated through exploratory factor analysis. . The questionnaire was e-mailed to all TUMS faculty members . 218 faculty members responded to the questionnaire.
The reliability score of the questionnaire was assessed using Cronbach alphs, and it was 0.79. Exploratory factor analysis of the attitude part of the questionnaire produced a single factor that explained 53% of the variance. The results showed the positive attitude of faculty members regarding e-learning, although their knowledge and practice scores was less than half of the total score. There wass not found any meaningful differences between knowledge, attitude and performance of the participants based on sex, rank and work experience. ANOVA test showed that the difference of scores among schools was statistically significant ( = 0.000; = 0.003 and = 0.000, respectively).
The findings of this study showed the state of knowledge, attitude and faculty members’ performance of TUMS on e-learning. Over the past years, TUMS has established suitable e-learning infrastructure such as educational websites and virtual programs as well as training workshop for faculty members. The results of this study can help the revision and improvement of the faculties’ educational programs.

Medical Laboratory Sciences is one of the important fields in Medicine that is closely associated with other disciplines in this group. This study aims to evaluate laboratory sciences curriculum in Iran and several countries worldwide. In this research، data collection is based on documents and curriculum goals of countries. The data collected was analyzed using qualitative methods. Comparative study of curriculum courses of bachelor of Laboratory Medical sciences was done and compared with the number of basic and specific units in Iran and other countries. The curriculum in Iran with Turkey and Australia is remarkably consistent. Internship units in hospitals have lower returns in compared to other universities in the world. Laboratory Science curriculum in Iran is matched with developing countries. However، more attention to training units and projects to improve the quality of teaching laboratory sciences could be more effective.

Learning style is one of the factors that affect learning and academic achievement of learners so that understanding it helps individuals adopt a more appropriate way of learning. Teachers'' learning styles also affect selected teaching activities and learning environment. This study assesses the learning styles of students and faculty members in pre-clinical stage of medical education at Tehran University of Medical Sciences. This study was conducted in the 2011-12. 221 medical students and 106 faculty staff in preclinical stage at Tehran University of Medical Sciences participated in a census study. Kolb''s Learning Style Inventory was used to conduct the research. Much of the students’ learning style was converging (34. 4%) and accommodating (30. 8%) while the majority of the faculty learning style was respectively converging (41. 5%) and absorbent (26. 4%). There was a significant difference (p=0. 000) between learning styles of the students and the faculty staff. Similarity between learning style of medical students and the faculty increases learning motivation and achievement. We recommend that the faculty، regardless of their learning preferences، use laboratory and problem solving method in their teaching. In addition، the communication skills of medical students should also be strengthened.

In recent decades، there have been numerous attempts to define precisely what is meant by small group teaching. Many writers argue that small group teaching method is among the most difficult and highly skilled of teaching techniques، in which in addition to the primary objective of teaching students to think، the tutor must have a number of subsidiary objectives if the small group is to function. In other words، the interpersonal and interactive nature of small groups makes them a challenging and appropriate vehicle for engaging students in their own learning. However، not only do tutors have to learn how to teach using small group methods but students also have to learn how to work in small groups. On the other hand، nowadays it is not only that there are more students participating in higher education than before; it is also the case that students are coming from more diverse backgrounds، so inclusion and internationalization are matters to concern ourselves with، and there is a need for providing a more diversified curriculum، that they are responsible not only for what is taught but also، in part، for how students learn. These entire changes mean that the small group is now seen as a means of fostering student engagement، cooperative and collaborative learning. Planning for effective small group teaching is as important as planning any other teaching activity. This point sometimes goes unrecognized because learning in small groups can at first glance appear unstructured. Some lecturers are put off by the seemingly informal، loose or open-ended nature of small group learning، or they fear this informality will be a recipe for chaos، whereas behind the facade of the informal group lies a backdrop in which all the learners are playing within a known set of rules which are spoken or unspoken. In this paper، after the introduction of the context and features of small groups، the necessity of planning for this teaching method is mentioned. Moreover، stages of group development and management as well as the teaching - learning nature in small groups are described. Next، the teacher and learner skills needed for teaching and learning in small groups and other qualifications required to teach in a small group، such as instructional space group، and the use of small groups in clinical and medical education are offered.

Achievement-based evaluation is an important part of the educational planning process, in which learners are screened; besides, it helps teachers in their self-evaluation. The purpose of present study is to survey the methods through which laboratory sciences students were evaluated by their professors at Tehran University of Medical Sciences(TUMS) in the academic year 2009-2010. In this cross-sectional study, the population consisted of the faculty members who teach laboratory sciences courses. Data collection instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed to describe all evaluation methods using tables and necessary distribution frequencies. Then, the results were compared with those of Medical Planning Council resolutions. The results show that mid-term exams were used for the evaluation of students in 35% of all theoretical and practical courses. Besides, of the evaluation methods used, multiple-choice questions occupied the first rank(70%) among the methods normally employed. According to the results, routine evaluation of undergraduate students of laboratory sciences at the Paramedical Faculty of Tehran University of Medical sciences not only conformed to the ratifications of the Supreme Council of Medical Planning, but also was done more extensively and with a higher degree of consistency in the academic year 2009-2010.

Critical thinking is considered as an ultimate goal for education، and a criteria for academic accreditation. So، organizations such as World Federation of Medical Education (WFME) emphasize its importance. This study aimed to assess critical thinking dispositions among medical students’ at two medical school stages (basic medical science and pre-internship) in two medical universities in year 2010. performance on at the two different levels of on all the students at two universities of medical sciences. This descriptive cross-sectional study run in Tehran (TUMS) and Mashhad Universities of medical sciences (MUMS). A census sample of medical students (n=635) studying in basic medical sciences or pre-internship stages received California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory (CCDI) and demographic questionnaire. Data was analyzed using descriptive indices and t-test. The total mean score on CCDI according to the completed (n=442) questionnaires، was 291. 08±30. 51. It was 291. 38±31. 98 for the basic science students and 290. 70±28. 6 at the pre-internship level. While the performance of the students at the two levels of basic science and pre-internship showed no significant differences، on the three subscales of inquisitiveness (p=0. 012)، self-confidence (p=0. 011) and truth-seeking (p=0. 012)، we observed significant differences. The total mean score on CCDI was 290. 68±30. 9 for Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) and 291. 67±29. 97 for MUMS. The total scores for the two universities was not significantly different (p>0. 7); however، the performance of the students at TUMS on the subtest for systematicity was found to be significantly better (p=0. 023). Only two top deciles of the students had strongly positive critical thinking dispositions. Students’ critical thinking dispositions were intermediate and positive. It seems that our educational system requires to be revised in order to improve students’ critical thinking dispositions. This study could be the first step to doing research to find better ways to intervening curriculum in order to promote critical thinking dimensions.

Students learning in clinical teaching environment is an essential part of the curriculum. This study was done in order to compare the viewpoints of students and teachers in Paramedical and Nursing & Midwifery Schools of Bushehr University of Medical Sciences about the statue of clinical education environment in 1998. A total of 124 students passing field internship program and 21 ones of their teachers were participated. Data were collected through a questionnaire consisted of 22 items in four major domains of learning opportunity، learning support، physical environment facilities and teacher-student relationship. Field of study was Nursing in 35. 5%، Midwifery in 29%، Operating Room technician in 17. 7% and Anesthesiology in 17. 7% of the participants. In all domains except in physical environment facilities، there was a significant difference between students’ and teachers’ mean viewpoint scores (p<0. 05). Knowing viewpoints of students and teachers as well as similarities and differences of their viewpoints can be effective in planning for the improvement of clinical teaching environment.

Background and Critical thinking is a high priority outcome of higher education. With the ever-increasing spread of virtual courses, enhancement in the critical thinking in distance learning has become the center of attention for the stakeholders. The present study was conducted to qualitatively examine the experiences of teachers and students in teaching and learning critical thinking in medical education. Methods and Materials: In this qualitative study, 7 E-teachers and 11 postgraduate E-students of medical education were interviewed using a semi-structured method. All interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed and then analyzed through constant comparison based on Strauss and Corbin's method. Three themes were identified in this study; nature of critical thinking, critical thinking within the framework of medical education discipline; and the teaching-learning process of critical thinking in the virtual environment. The participants’ experiences indicated that the learning-teaching of critical thinking in virtual education is affected by teaching strategies, the features of course management software, creation of a learner-centered environment and the role of critical thinking as one of the objectives of curriculum and evaluation.

Students’ learning style, as one of the effective factors on learning and academic achievement, is always taken into consideration in a successful educational system. Identifying learners’ learning style would lead to selecting more appropriate teaching methods by teachers and learning styles by learners. Therefore, this study was aimed to identify medical students’ learning style and its relationship with their academic achievement. In this descriptive-analytic study, medical freshmen and fifth-year students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences participated by completing the standard questionnaire of Kolbs. The average of all students’ theoretical and practical exam scores together with the fifth-year students’ OSCE and pre-internship exam scores were considered as indices for academic achievement. The most common learning styles among the freshmen were convergent (50.3%) and assimilation (36.6%) whereas the fifth-year medical students mentioned convergent (69%) and accommodation (16.7%). There was a statistically significant difference between learning styles in both student groups (P=0.0001); convergent and accommodation learning styles were more common among fifth-year students compared with the freshmen while such a result was the inverse for divergent and assimilation learning styles. There was no significant difference between learning style and students’ academic achievement. As convergent learning style was considered to be the dominant one, and simulation, laboratory assignments and problem–based learning are the most suitable learning atmospheres, it is appreciated if educational planners prepare such environments.

Nowadays, experts introduce critical thinking as the main outcome of higher education and consider teaching "how to think" as the basis for learning. This study compares the critical thinking skills and critical thinking dispositions in freshmen and senior students of health care management. This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on a sample of 60 freshmen and senior students of health care management. The data gathering tools included California critical thinking skills test, as well as California critical thinking dispositions inventory. Data was analyzed by SPSS software using descriptive statistics, T-test, and Chi². The mean and standard deviation of critical thinking skills total score in freshmen and senior students was respectively 11.55±2.18 and 11.21±2.59, which was in the normal limit for both. There was no significant difference between the freshmen and senior student's score patterns. Considering critical thinking disposition total score, the mean and standard deviation in freshmen, was 282.37±27.93 and in senior students was 289.64±21.13. There was a significant difference between the score pattern of critical thinking disposition in freshmen and senior students. The scores of senior students were higher than freshmen scores. The total score of critical thinking skills achieved by students was in a normal limit. Also, the total score of critical thinking dispositions revealed the student's positive tendency. But, with regard to the reported scores from other similar schools of the world, administrators and teachers should pay more attention to their educational planning in developing cultivating critical thinking skills.

Citation could be considered as basis of scientific researches. Each researcher will use citation to prove his scientific findings either to be in correspondence with truth or to familiarize readers with more references. Maintenance and continuation of informational link by citation is essential. Theses are not exceptional for this subject. This study was done to review the accuracy of cited articles of specialized theses (Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 1386) and the rate of correspondence with Vancouver style. Citation analysis is used as study approach. By systematic sampling and Morgan table 357 cited articles were selected to review for accuracy of citation and their correspondence with Vancouver style. Six studied factors are as following: Name of author(s), title of article, title of journal, year of Publishing, volume number, number of pages. Citation errors are divided in to two main groups: 1-Minor errors 2-Major errors. Method of sampling is direct observation. Data was entered in a check list, based on Taylor division. SPSS(11.0) software was used to analysis. Out of all 357 reviewed cited articles, totally 111.4% citation errors were observed and only 136 (38.09%) of citations had no error and 221(62%) citations had errors. 9.8% of citations fully corresponded with Vancouver style.Discussion and Main reasons of dissatisfying results of citation errors and rate of correspondence with Vancouver style are as follows: Student's unawareness of importance of scientific researches consistence Laxity of students about citification produce, inaccessibility to original references and copy of other sources.Teacher's less emphasis on accuracy of citation, carelessness of educational universities about accuracy of citation in thesis, not use of experts and specialized librarians for consultation, being not familiar with reference management software.

Administrators have to pay attention to nurses as an important group among hospitals employees in order to have better patient outcomes. Recently, nurse's quality of work life is a new concept that attention to it can improve organizational efficiency. This research is to investigate the quality of work life of nurses at Tehran University of Medical Sciences Hospitals in 2005-2006.Methods & Materials: This is a cross-sectional study. The research was conducted among 349 nursing employees. Data were gathered using a questionnaire consisted of 30 elements of QWL. The respondents were asked to determine their overall quality of work life. Validity of the questionnaire was evaluated using content validity and reliability was determined using test-retest method. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS statistical software package. The results showed that the majority of nurses were dissatisfied with environmental health and safety at work, monetary compensation and job welfare. There was significant correlation between the executive position of nurses, years of experience and their salary (P<0.05). The study findings showed that nurses had a poor quality of work life. This indicates that majority of employees are unsatisfied with the most aspects of their quality of work life.