sara shafian

E-learning is considered the most important technology that can support new teaching-learning approaches. The objective of e-learning is to provide the same access and create the same educational space for all learners at any point, and optimize the methods of presenting course content for deeper and more serious learning.

The present study was conducted to develop a standard framework for the effective implementation of e-learning in medical science education.

This study was conducted in two phases in 2022 using a mixed exploratory method. In the first (qualitative) phase, the initial framework was obtained from a comparative review of existing literature. In the second (quantitative) phase, the calculated standards were prepared in the form of an online questionnaire and sent to 20 e-learning experts in medical sciences. After data analysis, a framework of e-learning standards were proposed.

Nine dimensions and 58 standards were approved as the framework of e-learning standards. The lowest and highest content validity ratio (CVR) based on the analyzes were reported to be 0.77 and 0.88, respectively. As a result, all dimensions and 58 standards were approved. Also, the intraclass correlation (ICC) between 0.75 and 0.90 showed good reliability and high agreement between experts.

Using a standard framework to implement e-learning helps to improve the quality of e-learning courses in medical sciences and brings more trust from internal and external stakeholders in these courses. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on the field of education and attempt to make educational organizations work in the best way in any situation, such as the fact that the world has recently been exposed to the o COVID-19 pandemic which led to the tendency of universities to use it.

Specialized and subspecialized medical education is of key importance in the higher education system due to the special role of residents in various fields in the educationalmedical system of universities and the important role of graduates of these fields as specialized and subspecialized physicians in the community health system; therefore, the examination of their views on desirable education can lead to the improvement of the quality of education.

The present study aimed to explain the views of residents of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran, on desirable education.

This study was performed using qualitative content analysis. A total of 17 participants were selected by purposive sampling in the academic year of 2019-2020 from the educational hospitals of Kerman University of Medical Sciences and interviewed in face-to-face and semistructured manners. After collecting the data, all the interviews were implemented and reviewed, and categories were extracted.

Data analysis led to the extraction of six main themes, including capable clinical professors, effective clinical environments, comprehensive planning, comprehensive and preventive educational rules and regulations, efforts to improve educational processes, and educational management.

Health promotion is one of the needs of today’s society. Clinical education should be responsive to society, and the desirability of this education will lead to community health promotion. In this regard, it is suggested that education and health officials take an effective step toward improving residency course education by proper planning, performing continuous evaluations of the status of residency education, and considering the factors affecting the desirable clinical education.

The American Medical Association has introduced the newest medical subspecialty field known as "Clinical Informatics" since 2011. In order to present similar courses in Iran, it is necessary to design and evaluate a training program. The comparison of educational systems improves the content and quality of design of an educational program. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify and compare the clinical informatics curriculum in several top universities in the world.

The present study was an applied one conducted in 2019. The tool used in this study was a researcher-made checklist that was designed based on reviewing the texts and opinions of experts in group discussion sessions. Its validity was confirmed by seven experts in medical informatics, clinical specialties, and medical education and its reliability was confirmed using the equivalence method. The data were collected by referring to the university websites to complete the study checklist.

In most of the studied universities, the clinical informatics fellowship course was implemented according to ACGME standards and the main content of this course included four main topics: principles and concepts, clinical decision-making and improving the care process, health information systems, and guiding and managing change.

The similarities were mostly related to the duration of the course and the opportunity to conduct relevant researches in the field of clinical informatics. Most of the differences were also related to the opportunity to teach clinical informatics and learnerschr('39') participation in holding a journal club during the course.

The outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) caused a pandemic in most countries, and how to face the pandemic is a major issue that needs to be addressed worldwide.

The current study aimed at determining the competitive advantage and scientific strength of medical sciences universities to face this pandemic

A mixed-methods was employed to conduct the current study from May to April 2020 in three steps: a) identifying the academic departments with the most exposure to this pandemic; b) designing the protocol to calculate the scientific strength and competitive advantage, c) allocating the mission to academic departments.

The scientific strength and competitive advantage were calculated for clinical and non-clinical departments in all medical sciences universities. The obtained results indicated that some universities, for instance, Tehran, Shahid Beheshti, Iran, Isfahan, Mazandaran, Shiraz, Kerman, and Mashhad, had the most competitive advantage that would increase their responsibility to face this pandemic.

Policy-makers that clearly identify the mission and objectives of their institutions and define the relevant tasks may have better performance based on the capacities and abilities of the medical sciences universities

The differentiation as a process occurs when new functions emerge in a system, and for this reason the university system is bound to diversify. With the advancement of knowledge and increase in competition, it has become a challenging issue and an inevitable necessity. This study aimed at identifying the dimensions of the differentiation of Iran’s medical sciences universities through determining a protocol of the competitive advantage and scientific strength of clinical specialty and subspatiality departments of research activities. This was a mixed-methods study; the qualitative study was carried out using a conventional content analysis method. We held a focus group discussion to develop a protocol of scientific strength and competitive advantage for mission differentiation. We used purposive sampling, in February 2019. The sessions were audio-taped. We analyzed the data by considering the verbatim transcribed document of the audio recorded discussions using conventional content analysis method for theme development. In the second stage, we implemented the proposed protocol in thefirst stage through the Scientometrics System for all 66 colleges and universities of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education. The results of the first stage includes a protocol, 4 indices and two formulae for scientific strength and competitive advantage proposed by the expert participants and an executive model designed to clinical specialty and sub-specialty of the college and universities of medical sciences in the research activities. In the second stage, the scientific strength and competitive advantage was calculated for all universities of medical sciences. The results indicated that some universities, for instance, Tehran, Shahid-Beheshti, Iran, Shiraz, Isfahan, etc. had the most competitive advantages among the academic clinical specialty and sub-specialty departments. Besides teaching and research, universities should contribute to local socio-economic development, in the growing conviction that scientific research results and educational skillsare crucial for the economic growth of nations. The enhancement of high-quality education and excellence in teaching will be consistent and sustained in research-intensive universities. Itshould strongly promote the integration and relatedness of teaching and research as an essential characteristic of the university.