Journal of Advances in Medical Education & Professionalism
Volume:8 Issue: 2, Apr 2020

Students’ engagement during the collection ofattendance (SEdCA) is a method where students write the answerto a question related to the topic of preceding 1-h lecture. Then,attendance is recorded by the teacher from the answer sheets.This method was introduced primarily to overcome difficulty inrecording attendance from a class of high attendance. Its potentialformative assessment capability has not yet been ascertained. Withthis background, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect ofthe application of SEdCA as a method of formative assessment onthe academic performance of first-year medical students. This interventional, uncontrolled, before and after studywas conducted on 93 first-year medical students. Part completiontest (PCT) scores in anatomy before the application of SEdCAwas considered as the pre-intervention academic performance.Then, 1-h lectures were designed according to SEdCA for aperiod of 3 months. The next PCT scores were taken as postinterventionperformance and compared with the pre-interventionperformance using paired t-test with α=0.05. Ninety-three (female=38, male=55) first-year medicalstudents with a mean age of 17.65±0.88 years participated in thestudy. There was a significant increase in theory (23.74±5.67versus 26.40±5.17, t=3.31, P<0.001), practical (21.43±6.60 versus24.08±5.16, t=6.95, P<0.001), and total (45.17±11 versus 50.47±9.17,t=8, P<0.001) scores in the post-intervention PCT. SEdCA may be applied to enhance the academiccompetency of first-year medical students. However, its impactshould be evaluated further in multiple subjects in students ofdifferent years of study in more institutes for a generalized result.

Clinical reasoning is a vital aspect of physiciancompetence. It has been the subject of academic research fordecades, and various models of clinical reasoning have beenproposed. The aim of the present study was to develop a theoreticalmodel of clinical reasoning. To conduct our study, we applied the process of theorysynthesis in accordance with the Walker and Avant’s approach.First, we considered clinical reasoning as a focal concept of ourstudy. Second, a search was carried out for the period 1984–2018, using the PubMed, Google Scholar, PsycINFO, ERIC,ScienceDirect and Web of Science databases to review theliterature to identify factors related to the clinical reasoning andthe nature of their relationships. Third, we organized clinicalreasoning into an integrated and efficient representation of theclinical reasoning. According to this study clinical reasoning is the iterativeprocess of intermediation between the recalled clinical knowledgeand the patient’s represented problem in the clinicians’ activememory. We analogize the process of clinical reasoning to theprocess of closure of a cognitive zipper. The recalled knowledgein clinician’s memory resembles to one side of zippers teeth andthe evolving representation of the patient’s problem resemblesthe other side of zippers teeth. So, the results of this study arepresented in three models: [1] multi-layer knowledge structuremodel, [2] problem representation model and [3] cognitive zippermodel of diagnostic reasoning.
We propose a developmental model of clinicalreasoning. Several studies have tried to present models andtheories to clarify clinical reasoning, but it seems that thesetheories and models could only explain part of this complexprocess and not the whole process. Cognitive zipper model, dueto its developmental structure, can illustrate the clinical reasoningprocess in more details than other models do.

The widespread developments of the twentyfirstcentury have been accompanied by the presentation ofintellectual patterns and theories and new achievements. Thesenew achievements emphasize the skill of thinking at high levels,especially in the educational system of universities. This skillis essential for medical students; therefore, the present studyaimed to investigate the qualitative barriers of critical thinking inmedical students’ curriculum.

This is a qualitative study in which the content analysismethod has been used. Participants of this study included 11medical education experts and medical students (6 females and 5males) who were selected through a semi-structured interview andpurposeful sampling. The data analysis method was conventionalcontent analysis. In the next part, by more investigation of thedata, various obtained concepts will be presented in the form ofthemes, categories, and subcategories.

We obtained two themes (socio-cultural conditions andtraditional and unchanging system of education), eight categoriesand 14 subcategories.Also, these categories were resistance tocritical society, intellectual tension, personality characteristics,lack of understanding of society’s need for criticism, the ruleof traditional teaching pattern, lack of critical thinking skills,ineffective evaluation, and difficulty of critical thinking training.

Given the results and the main emphasis ofcurriculum planners on incorporating high-level critical thinkingand revision skills into the curriculum, the country’s academiceducation system requires a change in the thinking style,research, deepening critical thinking, and a change in teachers’attitudes toward curriculum designing (goals, content, teachingand evaluation methods); also, it is suggested that the authoritiesshould pay attention to the need to develop and utilize criticalthinking skills in the learners’ education.

The internet is an essential and widely used toolfor college students; however, high internet dependency can havenegative consequences for students, especially regarding academiccareers. Such students may tend to postpone their academic tasks.Hence, the current study examines the effect of Internet addictionon academic procrastination among medical students. We applied a cross-sectional correlational researchdesign. 233 medical students of Shiraz University of MedicalSciences were selected through convenience sampling andparticipated in this study. To collect the data, we used two validand reliable questionnaires. The first was Young’s Internetaddiction questionnaire (IAT-20), which consists of 20 itemsbased on a 5-point Likert-type scale. The second was Solomonand Rothblum academic procrastination questionnaire, whichconsists of 18 items based on a 5 point Likert-type scale. We usedPearson correlation, independent T-test, and One-Way ANOVA toanalyze the data in SPSS version 22, and considered a significancelevel of P<0.05.
Results showed that 57.1% of the respondents werefemales, and the remaining were males. Findings indicated that8 (3.43%) of the participants were classified as severe internetaddicted,and 28.85% of them had a high level of academicprocrastination. The results indicated that there was a positive andsignificant correlation between Internet addiction and academicprocrastination (r=0.39, with P<0.01). Also, there was a positivecorrelation between academic procrastination dimensions (writinga term paper, studying for an exam, keeping up with weeklyreading assignments, performing administrative tasks, attendingmeetings and performing academic tasks in general) and Internetaddiction (r=0.22, r=0.32, r=0.21, r=0.29, r=0.33, and r=0.23,respectively, with P<0.01). Finally, the results revealed that malestudents and those living in the dormitory had a higher level ofInternet addiction and procrastination compared to female onesand those living at home (P<0.01). The findings of the current research reveal that aconsiderable number of students have levels of Internet addictionand procrastination; the study highlights that students with highlevels of Internet addiction are more likely to be at an increased riskof negative outcomes such as insufficiently controlled Internet use.

As health professionals, physicians are accountablefor their professional practice. The aim of this study was to explainthe medical students’ motivation to attain social accountability inmedical schools, based on the experience of both students andfaculties. We conducted a qualitative conventional contentanalysis research in Shiraz University of medical sciences in Iransince 2018 through purposive, snowball sampling. The data werecollected through semi-structured interviews with 35 participantsi.e., medical students and teachers. Coding was carried out byconventional content analysis.
We drew four themes and ten related subthemes and thecentral variable explains the motivation of medical students towardsocial accountability and makes a link among the subthemes,was purposeful beliefs and behavior. The key dimensions duringmotivational process which generated the social accountabilitydevelopment in medical students consisted of social culture ofmedicine, medical school reality, teaching and learning strategyand creating purposeful beliefs and behavior. Also, eight subthemesof individual motivation, content motivation process motivation,attending to the outcomes of the curriculum, traditional routinecentered curriculum, observational learning, role modeling,hidden curriculum, respect for social values and norms andbenefitting the society emerged which explain the process ofmotivate for social accountability by creating purposeful beliefsand behavior in medical students. The core variable of motivation toward socialaccountability must be reflected in future developmentalprograms, curriculum planning and training general physicians.In other words, the best efforts for purposeful beliefs and behaviorin medical students, must be made to improve motivation towardsocial accountability.

There is a paucity of literature on research output of Australasian interns. We have previously shown great interest among interns rotating in our department to publish or present their findings from an audit or research project (ARP). The aim of this study was to examine the output of the intern ARP.

ARP titles over a five-year period were searched in academic databases. We compared the output rate from our institution to a rate estimated a priori from previously published literature.

A total of 186 ARPs were conducted over the study period. Of these, only two were published (one original article and one letter) and one was presented at a national conference. The observed productivity rate was significantly lower than that of the estimated rate (χ2=4.49, P=0.034).

Despite potential limitations, our study remains the largest study to report on intern research productivity in Australasia. It provides evidence of the need for improvement in and encouragement of research conducted by junior doctors.

Dear Editor, When an academician or clinician assumes the chair of department, multiple responsibilities dawn upon the chair that requires appropriate analysis and effective decision-making skills. Head of the department is uniquely poised to translate the organisational goals into the collective performance of the departmental members. Headship is an iterative process which necessitates providing a mechanism for sense-making among sub-ordinates depending upon the varying environments (1). Sense-making can be defined as the ability of the head to improve the capacity of the department by productively organizing the information / perspectives arising from the various stakeholders and develop the most optimal action plan (2). An effective sense making can be achieved by articulating the formulated vision, influencing the peers, emphasising the goals, adopting the right problem-solving approaches and honing a proactive relationship dynamics among departmental members. The ability of sense-making gains more importance in high stakes departments where it is crucial to strike the right balance between the teaching, research and patient service before opting for major changes in the administration of the department.

In the light of educational disruptions due to COVID-19 outbreak, most, if not all institutions have adopted distanced online based learning methodologies. But, most educators seem to unaware regarding the cognitive load associated while designing such instructional formats. Through this letter, we intend to convey our practical experiences while shifting to such formats and wish to discuss the basics of educational psychology related to cognitive load. Since it is a pandemic problem, we feel that educators across world might read this letter with great interest.