hamidreza koohestani

 The identification of the strengths and weaknesses of pre-hospital emergency technicians, as the first providers of treatment services to critically ill patients, is of utmost importance.

 This study was conducted to explain the challenges faced by emergency medical technicians in Shiraz, Iran, within 2021 - 2022.

 The present study was a qualitative study that was conducted using the traditional qualitative content analysis (Graneheim and Lundman, 2004). Sampling in this study was purposeful. A semi-structured interview was conducted with 17 emergency technicians in Shiraz. Lincoln and Guba’s standards were used to validate the data.

 This study identified 3 categories and 12 subcategories. These three categories include management challenges, professional problems, and cultural barriers. Subcategories were “insufficient emergency medical services (EMS) stations”, “lack of human resources”, “role ambiguity”, “lack of organizational support”, lack of job prestige”, “high job stress”, “crowded missions”, “lack of psychotherapy and counseling”, “high-risk profession, “public’s false perception of EMS job”, “abuse of emergency call center services”, and “disrespectful behavior”.

 Considering that the provision of EMS is an inherently stressful and highly anxious job, some measures can be taken to reduce the mental effects of such pressure on the technicians. In addition, they should run public awareness campaigns to improve the cultural level of society to better understand the duties and activities of EMS workers at the community level.

Artificial Inteligence (AI) application in emergency medicine is subject to ethical and legal inconsisten-cies. The purposes of this study were to map the extent of AI applications in emergency medicine, to identify ethicalissues related to the use of AI, and to propose an ethical framework for its use.

A comprehensive literature col-lection was compiled through electronic databases/internet search engines (PubMed, Web of Science Platform, MED-LINE, Scopus, Google Scholar/Academia, and ERIC) and reference lists. We considered studies published between 1January 2014 and 6 October 2022. Articles that did not self-classify as studies of an AI intervention, those that were notrelevant to Emergency Departments (EDs), and articles that did not report outcomes or evaluations were excluded. De-scriptive and thematic analyses of data extracted from the included articles were conducted.

A total of 137 outof the 2175 citations in the original database were eligible for full-text evaluation. Of these articles, 47 were included inthe scoping review and considered for theme extraction. This review covers seven main areas of AI techniques in emer-gency medicine: Machine Learning (ML) Algorithms (10.64%), prehospital emergency management (12.76%), triage,patient acuity and disposition of patients (19.15%), disease and condition prediction (23.40%), emergency departmentmanagement (17.03%), the future impact of AI on Emergency Medical Services (EMS) (8.51%), and ethical issues (8.51%).

There has been a rapid increase in AI research in emergency medicine in recent years. Several studies havedemonstrated the potential of AI in diverse contexts, particularly when improving patient outcomes through predic-tive modelling. According to the synthesis of studies in our review, AI-based decision-making lacks transparency. Thisfeature makes AI decision-making opaque.

With the onset of the coronavirus crisis, the medical treatment staffs were at the forefront of dealing with the disease. The lived experiences in the face of this disease can help better manage the epidemic and identify organizational and individual barriers and challenges. This study aimed to investigate the experiences of medical staff working in COVID- 19 wards in Shiraz teaching hospitals.

The present study is a qualitative study conducted in 2021-2022. A semi-structured interview was used to collect data. Eighteen nurses, physicians, and health workers of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences were employed for the interview. The snowball sampling technique based on the target group was used. Data were analyzed by The Colaizzi seven-step analysis method.

Three themes, including “tensions”, “material and spiritual support”, and “pleasant feeling” and eight sub-themes were extracted. The sub themes were “resilience”, “insufficient knowledge”, “depression”, “expressing gratitude by friends”, “public attention”, “organizational support”, “feeling proud”, and “altruism”.

The present study shows that COVID- 19 caused a lot of pressure on the medical staff during the pandemic, which led to psychological and emotional damage. On the other hand, material and spiritual support played an important role in reducing distress in times of crisis.

Students of medical sciences are a highly vulnerable group during COVID 19 pandemic who may experience a wide range of challenges and stresses. The aim of this study was to investigate the perceived challenges caused by COVID 19 outbreak in students of medical sciences.

A qualitative study was carried out based on conventional qualitative content analysis following Graneheim and Lundman from December 2020 to February 2021. The participants were 17 students of medical sciences and data gathering was done through semistructured interviews.

Data analyses revealed 5 categories and 12 subcategories. The extracted categories were perceived fear of contracting coronavirus, social limitation, changes in education, neglecting health protocols, and worrying news and information overload.

The findings indicated that students of medical sciences had been facing challenges and the COVID 19 had affected the psychological, social, and academic functioning of the health care students. It is important to take measures to improve their mental health. These measures can prevent medical complications in these students, especially during clinical internship.

Objectives :

Many older patients use medicinal plants, assuming that they are safe and without side effects. The present study aims to investigate the relationship between the use of medicinal plants and medication adherence in the elderly patients with chronic diseases.

Methods & Materials:

 In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 358 patients aged ≥60 years with chronic diseases were selected by a convenience sampling method. Data collection instrument was a three-part questionnaire assessing demographic information, history of using medicinal plants, and medication adherence using the Morisky medication adherence scale (MMAS). The data were entered into SPSS v.21 and analyzed using one-way analysis of variance, Chi-square test, independent t-test and logistic regression.

Results:

 The mean age of participants was 69.44±8.13 years and 52.23% were female. The majority of them were married (87.68%) with a junior high school education (71.64%).The overall mean score of MMAS was 5.48 (poor adherence). The percentage of patients with a history of taking medicinal plants in the last year with the prescription of physician was 41.34% (n=148) while the percentage of those used medicinal plants without the physician’ prescription was 27.3% (n=98). The mean of MMAS score in the groups who used medicinal plants was lower than in the group with no history of using medicinal plants (P=0.001). The number of used medicinal plants, the frequency of using medicinal plants, and the duration of chronic disease had a statistically significant relationship with the medication adherence (P <0.05).

Conclusion:

 Due to the high consumption of medicinal plants in the elderly with chronic diseases and its relationship with poor medication adherence, it is necessary to educate them about the correct use of medicinal plants, their side effects, herb-drug interactions, the need to inform the doctor about use of medicinal plants, and adherence to medication.

Internet addiction is a psychological disorder that can lead to serious damages to university students as a group at risk. This study aimed to determine the predictive role of tendencytoward mobile learning (purposeful use of mobile technologies for educational purposes) and emotional intelligence in Internet addiction in healthcare professional students.

A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out on 403 healthcare professional students at Saveh University of Medical Sciences-Iran in 2021 using convenience sampling method. For data gathering, three questionnaires were used: willingness to use mobile learning, Young’s Internet Addiction Test, and the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal. Data analyses were done using Pearson Correlation Coefficient and Hierarchical Regression in SPSS 16 (Inc SPSS USA, IL, Chicago).

The mean age of the participants was 21.09±1.47 years; 125 subjects (31.01%) were boys and 278 (68.99%) girls. As the findings showed, 16.87% of the students had Internet addictionand 33% were on the edge of developing Internet addiction. Internet addiction was significantly negatively correlated with willingness to m-learning (r=-0.45, P=0.001) and emotional intelligence (r=-0.32, P=0.01). In addition, regression analysis results showed that the variables willingness to use learning and emotional intelligence explained 23% of the Internet addiction variance (p <0.001).

In the present study, a considerable number of the healthcare professional students had excessive and unnecessary use of the Internet. Emotional intelligence and willingness to use mobile learning had an inverse relationship with Internet addiction. There is a need to screen Internet-addicted students using proper screening tools and take primary preventive measures in this regard. In addition, proper measures are needed to be taken to improve emotional intelligence and mobile learning skills and control Internet addiction to some extent.

Nursing students are continuously exposed to carriers or patients with COVID-19 during the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences can lead to many emotional reactions in nursing students. The aim of this study was to investigate emotional reactions to COVID-19 and coping strategies in nursing students.

 This descriptive and correlational study was conducted in 2021 at Saveh University of Medical Sciences, Iran, on 106 nursing students chosen by the census method. The tools used in this study included two standard questionnaires of emotional reactions to COVID-19 Huang et al. and Carver's coping strategies questionnaire (brief form). Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 19.

The mean score of the dimensions of emotional reactions was 4.06±0.56, 4.19±0.77, 3.08±0.56, and 2.89±0.56, in the field of fear, anxiety, sadness, and anger, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of fear and anxiety with gender (P<0.05). The mean scores of problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies were 2.97±0.97 and 3.06±0.97, respectively (P>0.05). There was a significant positive correlation between emotion-based coping strategies with fear, anxiety, and anger (P<0.05(.

Months after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, the rate of negative emotional reactions (including fear, anxiety, anger, and sadness) is high in nursing students. There was a positive correlation between emotion-based coping strategies and emotional reactions. Therefore, particular emphasis should be placed on providing psychological support to nursing students as well as teaching coping strategies.

Education in the medical sciences, which somehow deals with the health and lives of human beings, seems to be a stressful experience, and this stress is greater than ever during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study endeavored to examine the levels and sources of Covid-19 stress in medical students and related factors.

In this cross-sectional analytical study, 423 students of Saveh University of Medical Sciences participated in the academic year 2021. The instrumentation was the COVID-19 related Healthcare Students Stress Scale which was used after validation and reliability. Data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical methods (independent t-test and one-way analysis of variance) at a significant level of 0.05.

The mean standardized score of Covid-19 stress (out of 4 scores) in the areas of fear of catching coronavirus 3.31±0.98, changes in education 3.01± 0.77, non-compliance of health protocols 2.28±0.81, social constraints were 2.11±0.95, and worrying news and overload information was 2.09±0.95. There was a statistically significant relationship between Covid-19 stress score with field of study, gender and academic year (p<0.05). There was no significant relationship between age and place of residence with Covid-19 stress score (p>0.05).

Covid-19 stress was high in students, accordingly it seems essential that medical sciences students have the ability to cope with stress, and also should identify the sources of Covid-19 stress in students and take supportive measures to eliminate or reduce sources of stress.

Mobile learning as a paradigm shift in the context of e-learning has become particularly important after the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak and shift from the conventional methods to digital learning in universities. This study endeavored to study the willingness to mobile learning in medical sciences students in before and after the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak.

This descriptive-analytical study was conducted in the academic years 2020-2021 with the participation of 358 students. Data were collected through a standard questionnaire of willingness to mobile learning two times in the study before the outbreak of COVID-19 outbreak in Iran on February 2020 (T1) and again in May 2021 (T2).

The mean scores of willingness to mobile learning at two rounds were 162.58±30.29 and 176.55±28.56, respectively, which was significant (t=14.36, P=0.001). In addition, there was a significant difference between the mean of self-management (before 33.41, after 36.8) (t=15.51, P=0.001), attitude (before 19.46, after 21.63) (t=15.99, P=0.001), pedagogical use (before 33.66, after 36.65) (t=8.71, P=0.001), efficacy of mobile learning (before 6.81, after 7.89) (t=15.19, P=0.001) and behavioral intention (before 7.81, after 10.18) (t=22.93, P=0.001) in both rounds. However, there was no significant difference between the mean of the dimensions technophilia, perceive attraction, and perceived ease in the two measurement steps (P= 0.001).

The willingness to mobile learning has increased after about 1.5 years of the beginning of the COVID-19 disease outbreak in medical students, which indicates the high acceptance and desire of students to mobile learning. Therefore, the use of mobile technologies for learning purposes during the COVID-19 to fill the study gap and its continuation in the post corona is recommended as a complementary method in education.

The relationship between willingness to mobile learning (m‑learning) and educational achievement was examined in health‑care professional students.

This is a descriptive correlative study that was conducted from January 2020 to February 2020. A total of 295 students in Saveh University of Medical Sciences in Iran were selected through census method. The data were collected using the standard willingness to m‑learning questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed statistically using Pearson’s correlation coefficient and concurrent regression analysis.

The mean score of willingness to m‑learning was 165.55 ± 13.4, which is an indicative of a higher willingness level in the health‑care professional students for m‑learning. There was a positive and significant relationship between willingness for m‑learning and educational achievement (r = 0.77, P < 0.01). The predictive variable, i.e., willingness to m‑learning, predicted 53.8% of the variance of educational achievement (F = 58.801, P = 0.00). Among the variables of willingness to m‑learning, the regression coefficients of perceived ease, attitude, self‑management in learning, educational use, and efficiency of m‑learning were significant (P < 0.05). This means that these variables are direct predictors of educational achievement.

Willingness to m‑learning had a positive and significant relationship with educational achievement. Although this study was performed just before the corona outbreak, paying attention to the results of this study can be helpful for students, faculty members, and policymakers in filling the educational gap during the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak.

Patients’ beliefs about medicines can affect their adherence to the medicines. The aim of this study was to determine beliefs about medicines and medication adherence and its associated factors in patients with chronic diseases.

In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 268 patients with chronic diseases in 2019-2020 were included by convenience sampling method. The beliefs about medicines questionnaire and the Medication Adherence Scale were used for data collection. Data were analyzed in SPSS version 20 using One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), independent t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient at the significance level of α = 0.05.

The Mean±SD score of beliefs about medicines in terms of harms of medicines was 2.53±0.71, in benefits of medicines was 4.27±0.49 and overdose of the medicines was 3.23±0.79.There was a relationship between all three dimensions of beliefs about medicines with medication adherence (P<0.05). There was a direct relationship between the use of herbal medicine and belief in the harms of medicines (P<0.05). In addition, there was a relationship between gender and education level with belief in the benefits of the medicines (P<0.05).

Some chronic patients’ beliefs about the drug were not appropriate and they believed that the drugs were harmful and that the drugs were over-prescribed by doctors. Belief in the harms of the medicines, the benefits of the medicines, and the overdose of the medicines are associated with medication adherence in patients with chronic diseases. Patients should be encouraged to express their views on medications in order to improve patients’ beliefs about medication.

There is a rapid increase in the number of people infected with COVID-19 throughout the world. The present study aimed to determine peoplechr('39')s knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding COVID-19 in an Iranian sample.

This was a population-based cross-sectional study conducted on people over 18 years of age in Saveh city, of Iran, in 2020. A multiple-stage sampling method was used. Participants (N=471) completed an anonymous and self-report questionnaire assessing socio-demographic variables and KAP. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and independent t-tests by SPSS 21. The significance level was considered to be ≤0.05.

Of participants, 74.5% did not have accurate knowledge of how the coronavirus is spread. In terms of attitudes, more than 63.2% considered COVID-19 to be a dangerous disease. About 59.6% of participants reported regular use of a mask in the past week. As compared to men, women reported attitudes and practices more aligned with recommended safety standards. Higher education level was significantly related to the mean KAP score (p<0.05).

Although the sample evidenced appropriate attitudes and some safety practices in general, a significant percentage of individuals did not engage in protective behaviors.

The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia is a major threat to global public health because it is very contagious and spreads quickly by human-to-human transmission. This study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics and outcome of patients infected with COVID-19 in Saveh, Iran.

A descriptive-analytical study was conducted in 1537 patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 from 18 February- 2 June 2020. Medical records were studied and a researcher-made questionnaire consisting of demographic information, epidemiological, and clinical manifestations were used to collect the data.

There were significant differences between patients tested positive and negative for COVID-19 in terms of gender, age, duration of hospitalization, and contact with a patient with confirmed COVID-19 (P<0.05). The main symptoms of patients included cough (43.8%), fever (41.4%), and dyspnea (40.3%). The most common chronic diseases in these patients were cardiovascular disease (12.9%), diabetes (11.5%), and hypertension (9.7%). The mean age of death due to COVID-19 was 70.2±15.6 years and higher rate of mortality was seen in men (66.2%).

While responding to COVID-19, health authorities should consider vulnerable groups (older patients and those with underlying diseases) and provide them with more information on the modes of transmission of COVID-19 and the risks of infection.

There is a growing interest in learning styles of undergraduate health‑care professional students; however, the evidences about learning styles over time during undergraduate programs are rare. In this study, the learning styles of undergraduate health‑care professional students from the beginning to the completion of the program were examined to determine changes in learning style over time.

This is a longitudinal descriptive study from 2015 to 2018. A total of 101 health‑care professional students were selected by census method. Learning styles were evaluated using the Perceptual Learning‑Style Preference Questionnaire three times in the study at the beginning (T1), the middle (T2), and the end of the educational course (T3). The data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA.

In T1, auditory (mean = 13.99) and visual (mean = 13.54) styles were preferred as major learning styles, whereas at T2, visual style (mean = 13.6) was the only preferred major learning style. At T3, the major learning styles were kinesthetic (mean = 14.32), tactile (mean = 13.98), and visual (mean = 13.58). There were statistically significant differences in auditory, kinesthetic, tactile and group scale scores between the three time points (P < 0.05). Group learning style was in the negative type at all three time points.

Learning styles can change depending on the context, environment, teaching method, and the subject of learning material and are probably a flexible changing feature rather than a fixed inherent feature a student possesses

Given the absence of a scale specially designed to measure willingness to mobile learning (m‑learning) in medical sciences students, the present study was conducted to design and evaluate the psychometric properties of “willingness to m‑learning” scale for medical sciences students.

The study was carried out as a mixed‑method study in two phases at Saveh University of Medical Sciences in 2019. Phase one was a qualitative study to elaborate on the students’ perception of m‑learning. Then, the statements were extracted, and statement pool was completed through reviewing the text. In the second phase, the psychometric properties including face, content, and construct validities (using explorative factor analysis), internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha), and test–retest reliability (intercluster correlation test) were measured. A total of 482 students who were selected randomly participated in the second phase. Data analysis was done with MAXQDA software (VERBI Software 2019, Berlin, Germany) for qualitative data and SPSS 19 software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) for quantitative data.

Based on qualitative content analysis and literature review, 92 statements were extracted. After checking face and content validity, 55 statements remained in the study. Construct validity of the questionnaire based on explorative factor analysis removed 10 more statements and the remaining 45 statements were categorized into nine factors, namely technophilia, perceived attraction, perceived ease, perceived conflict, self‑management, attitude, behavioral intention to use, educational use, and efficacy of m‑learning. Reliability of the scale was obtained as 0.95 based on Cronbach’s alpha and stability was checked using test–retest method (intercluster correlation coefficient; r = 0.92).

Willingness to m‑learning scale had an acceptable reliability and validity in medical sciences students. Therefore, it can be used for medical sciences students for improve learning and education.

Patients on hemodialysis and their spouses experience various stresses during illness and dialysis treatment. The aim of this study was to compare depression and quality of life between patients on hemodialysis and their spouses.

An analytical and cross-sectional study was performed using the WHOQOL-Questionnaire tool and Beck Depression Inventory-II to assess the quality of life and the depression, respectively. A total of 172 participants (86 patients undergoing hemodialysis and 86 of their spouses) from two hospitals participated in the study.

In total, 89.54% and 91.87% of patients on hemodialysis and their spouses had depression at varying levels (mild to severe), respectively. The mean score of depression in the spouse group was significantly higher than the patients score (P< 0.05). Also, the spouses' score in psychological health domain of the quality of life was significantly lower than the patients’ score (P< 0.05).

Depression is highly prevalent among patients on hemodialysis and their spouses. Spouses had higher rates of depression and lower quality of life in psychological health domain than patients. Therefore, it is suggested that, like patients, the depression and quality of life of their spouses should be assessed periodically and, if necessary, supportive measures should be taken.

Several factors are involved in obtaining the competence of providing spiritual care in nursing students. The purpose of this study was to explain the relationship between moral intelligence and the professional self‑concept with the competency of the nursing students in providing spiritual care to promote nursing education.

The present study was descriptive‑analytics and the participants were the 7th and 8th semester nursing students of the processing district 6 of the medical sciences universities. The data were collected using questionnaires “Nursing student competencies for providing spiritual care,” “Nursing professional self‑concept” and “Moral intelligence” questionnaire and analysed using correlation and regression tests.

The results showed that there is a significant relationship between the moral intelligence and the students competency in providing spiritual care (r = 0.24, P < 0.001), while this relationship was not significant for the professional self‑concept (r = 0.045). Furthermore, based on the results of multiple regression analysis, the moral intelligence (B = 0.28, P = 0.001), gender (B = −4.23, P = 0.048), place of living (B = 10.59, P = 0.046), and adherence to religion (B = −11.82, P = 0.002) were the predictors of students’ competency in providing the spiritual care.

According to the results of this study, it is suggested that by applying strategies to strengthen the moral intelligence of the students, such as holding‑related workshops as well as reinforcing religiosity, the student’s competency in providing the spiritual care to the patients is reinforced.

The hidden curriculum refers to student experiences that occur outside the formal structure of the curriculum, and especially the messages provided by the education system concerning values, perspectives, behaviors, and attitudes which has a strong influence on students' professional development. This study aimed at explaining the lived experiences of undergraduate medical students about the “hidden curriculum.” This was a qualitative phenomenological study. Participants were medical students of Iran University of Medical Sciences and they were chosen by purposive sampling method based on the inclusion criteria. Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were conducted with 10 students until data saturation, and 7-step Colaizzi's method was utilized for the purposes of analyzing the study findings. In the process of analyzing data from medical students' lived experiences about hidden curriculum, the following three themes were extracted: 1. Conflict in value beliefs (sub-themes: not giving priority to students education, applicability to the clinical practice of  basic sciences, attitude towards discipline, professional ethics, justice in evaluation”) 2. Modeling teacher’s communication skills patterns (sub-themes: “teacher-patient relationship,” “teacher -student relationship and professor-colleagues relationship) 3. Effective teaching (sub-themes: “clinical teaching” and “theoretical teaching”). Based on the results of the study, the hidden curriculum has both positive and negative impacts on various aspects of learning, especially the attitudinal domain. Consequently, paying specific attention to hidden curriculums is an absolute need.

The field of education has experienced a profound change following the introduction of mobile technology over the last decades, and nursing education is not an exception. This study explored the experiences of nursing students about the ethical concerns regarding the use of mobile devices for learning purposes, that is, mobile learning, in educational and clinical contexts. A qualitative phenomenological study was carried out on nursing students (n = 19) in Saveh University of Medical Sciences of Iran between December 2017 and April 2018. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with openended questions. Data analysis was done using Colaizzi’s 7-step method, revealing four the mes and nine sub-themes including: 1) preserving professional dignity (in front of the patient, and the teacher, and preserving academic virtual identity); 2) securing informed consent and respecting personal (the patient’s and teachers) autonomy; 3) proper and efficient use (observing the regulations and codes, and making educational use); and 4) avoiding harm (responsible use of class and patient data). It was revealed that using mobile technology in education could raise ethical concerns for nursing students, and this should be emphasized in nursing educational programs.

Clinical reasoning plays an important role in the accurate diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Script Concordance test (SCT) is one of the tools that assess clinical reasoning skill. This study was conducted to determine the reliability and concurrent and predictive validity of SCT in assessing final lessons and gynecology exams of undergraduate midwifery students. At first, 20 clinical scenarios followed by 3 questions were designed by 2 experienced midwives. Then, after examining the content validity, 15 scenarios were selected. The test was used for 55 midwifery students. The correlation of SCT results with grade point average (GPA) was measured. To evaluate the concurrent validity of SCT, the correlation between SCT scores and the final exam of the gynecology course was measured. To measure predictive validity, the correlation of SCT scores with comprehensive exams of midwifery was calculated. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and coefficient Cronbach's alpha were used for analysis. The test’s item difficulty level (IDL) and item discriminative index (IDI) were determined using Whitney and Sabers’ method. The internal reliability of the test (calculated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient) was 0.74. All questions were positively correlated with the total score. The highest correlation coefficient was related to GPA and comprehensive test with the score of 0.91. The correlation coefficient between SCT and the final test (concurrent validity) was 0.654, and the correlation coefficient between SCT and comprehensive test (predictive validity) was 0.721. The range of item discriminative index and item difficulty level in this exam was 0.39-0.59 and 0.32-0.66, respectively. SCT shows a relatively high internal validity and can predict the success rate of students in the comprehensive exams of midwifery. Also, it showed a high concurrent validity in the final test of gynecology course. This test could be a good alternative for formative and summative tests of clinical courses.

The demand for mobile learning in the medical sciences educational program is increasing. The present review study gathers evidence highlighted by the experimental studies on the educational effects of mobile learning for medical sciences students.
The study was carried out as a systematic literature search published from 2007 to July 2017 in the databases PubMed/ Medline, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Web of Knowledge (Thomson Reuters), Educationa Resources and Information Center (ERIC), EMBASE (Elsevier), Cochrane library, PsycINFO and Google Scholar. To examine quality of the articles, a tool validated by the BEME Review was employed.
Totally, 21 papers entered the study. Three main themes emerged from the content of papers: (1) improvement in student clinical competency and confidence, (2) acquisition and enhancing of students’ theoretical knowledge, and (3) students’ positive attitudes to and perception of mobile learning. Level 2B of Kirkpatrick hierarchy had been examined by all the papers and seven of them had reported two or more outcome levels, but level 4 was not reported in the papers.
Our review showed that the students of medical sciences had positive response and attitudes to mobile learning. Moreover, implementation of mobile learning in medical sciences program might lead to valuable educational benefits and improve clinical competence and confidence along with theoretical knowledge, attitudes, and perception of mobile learning. The results indicated that mobile learning strategy in medical education can positively affect learning in all three domains of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Virtual education refers to a variety of teaching-learning methods that are implemented and supported electronically. The present study was conducted to determine the effects of group blogging on the attitude of nursing students towards virtual education.

This was a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest study in which all fifth-semester nursing students (n=25) were selected and asked to design educational blogs on nursing of respiratory diseases. Attitudes of the participants towards virtual education were measured before and after the intervention.

Pretest and posttest mean±SD were 2.98±1.03 and 3.46±0.68, respectively, showing a significant difference (p In general, the results revealed that blogging by nursing students could improve students’ attitudes towards virtual education.

Self-efficacy is one's belief in ability to succeed in specific situations and considerable factor to maintaining healthy behaviors. It has an important role in person-centred care and significantly improves after effects of heart attacks. This study aimed to investigate the effects of a peer based intervention on cardiac self-efficacy of the patients after bypass surgery.
In this clinical trial study, 60 patients undergoing bypass surgery were chosen and assigned equally into the control and intervention groups. The patients were assigned into two groups by block randomization. While routine education was presented to the patients in the control group, intervention group were taught using the peer education in two sessions. Cardiac self-efficacy of all the selected patients was assessed orderly in 36-month (3 years) follow-up after surgery. Inclusion criteria used to choose the suitable patients were as the following: no record of CABG surgery, understanding and talking Persian language, willingness to participate in the research, age between 40 and 70 years, no dementia, confusion, mental and psychological problems which might hinder their participation. In addition, exclusion criteria in this study were patient’s death, serious physical problems after CABG surgery, emergency and unexpected surgeries, or cancellation the CABG surgery due to patient’s situation. Data was collected using cardiac self-efficacy scale and analyzed using chi-square, independent t-test and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests.
The patients in both groups were homogenous in terms of demographic data. The mean score of cardiac self-efficacy in the intervention group was significantly different from control group in 3- year follow-up after surgery (P Based on this study, accomplishment of peer based intervention can be a beneficial educative-supportive approach in cardiac surgery fields.

Team-based learning is a structured type of cooperative learning that is becoming increasingly more popular in nursing education. This study compares levels of nursing students’ perception of the psycho-social climate of the classroom between conventional lecture group and team-based learning group.
In a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design 38 nursing students of second year participated. One half of the 16 sessions of cardiovascular disease nursing course sessions was taught by lectures and the second half with team-based learning. The modified college and university classroom environment inventory (CUCEI) was used to measure the perception of classroom environment. This was completed after the final lecture and TBL sessions.
Results revealed a significant difference in the mean scores of psycho-social climate for the TBL method (Mean (SD): 179.8(8.27)) versus the mean score for the lecture method (Mean (SD): 154.213.44)). Also, the results showed significant differences between the two groups in the innovation (p This study provides evidence that team-based learning does have a positive effect on nursing students’ perceptions of their psycho-social climate of the classroom.