مجله ایرانی آموزش در علوم پزشکی
سال دوازدهم شماره 12 (پیاپی 50، اسفند 1391)

As the future members of treatment team, students of medical sciences need to acquire communication skills in order to shape an effective and determined relationship with patients. The aim of this study is to assess the level of interpersonal communication skills among students of Allied Medical School of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. In this analytical descriptive cross-sectional study, 212 students of school of allied health sciences were selected through randomized sampling method. Data gathering tool was a standardized questionnaire named Interpersonal Communication Skills Standards Test containing 34 items having 5 points scale and its score ranged 34 -170. Data was analyzed by statistical tests of t and ANOVA. 170 questionnaires completed. 67.6% of participants were female. Mean score of students’ communication skills level was 99.829.91 which showed a significant relationship with years of study (P=0.009, F=3.980). The mean score for male and female students were 100.449.16 and 99.5310.28 respectively; t test showed no significant differences between these mean scores (P= 0.58). Duration of education is an important factor on the level of interpersonal communication skills in students of Allied Health Sciences in Tehran University of Medical Sciences. It seems that educational experience of students improves their communication performance

Leadership and management skills are intrinsic to medical care, but low attention has been paid to them in educational curriculum for general practitioners in many countries including Iran. This study, based on Kern’s curriculum planning cycle, has investigated key informants` experiences and point of views about necessity and quality of management education in order to develop management courses to be embeded in general practitioner educational curriculum. In this qualitative study, using content analysis and purposeful sampling, data were collected by 2 focus group discussions and 28 semi-structured interviews, with key informants in healthcare management and medical education, physician directors and organizational colleagues such as nurses, administrative and insurance experts, till data saturation was achieved in 2011. Sampling was done in Iranian medical sciences universities and Ministry of Health and Medical Sciences. Data was analysed using constant comparison based on Strauss and Corbin’s method. After data analysis, 6 main categories emerged:Necessity of management courses for undergraduate medical students, Required Knowledge, Required Skills, Properties and objectives of the management course and its appropriate education setting, Educational strategies and methods, Evaluation and feedback methods. In addition to showing the necessity of formal inclusion of management courses in general practitioner curriculum, results of this study introduced the required educational settings and methods based on participants` experiences. Future studies are needed to examine the efficiency and detect the administrative problems involved.

Critical thinking and clinical decision making skills lead to care improvement and the application of nursing process. Previous studies have indicated that critical thinking and clinical decision making skills among nurses and students are low and studies comparing nurses and students in this regard have yielded inconsistent results. Thus this survey aimed to compare critical thinking and clinical decision making skills in the last-semester students and nurses in Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences in 2010. In this cross-sectional study, all 35 senior (last-semester) students and a random sample of 35 nurses with above 2 years of work experience were selected. California Critical Thinking questionnaire (Form B) and Lauri’s clinical decision making questionnaire were used for data gathering. Data were analyzed using t-test, paired t-test, analysis of variance, chi square, and non-parametric tests. Mean of critical thinking scores for students was 10.49±2.6 and for nurses 10.33±4.6. Mean score of clinical decision making for students was 68.05±4.46 and for nurses 63.70±10.01. Comparison of students and nurses in terms of the mean scores of critical thinking and clinical decision making showed a statistically meaningful difference (p<0.001). Low levels of critical thinking and clinical decision making skills among nursing students and nurses indicates the necessity of the skill improvement by embedding them in students’ curriculum and continuous education for nurses.

Community pharmacy training course is one of the most important parts of pharmacy training program. As we faced so many problems presenting this course in Zabol pharmacy school, community pharmacy teaching software was designed to decrease the existing problems. Here we evaluated the input of our designed software on knowledge of pharmacy students of Zabol University of Medical Sciences and their opinion about it. This is a quasi-experimental study in two consecutive groups of our students (44 students). We used the combination of classic method of lecturing and pharmacy placement in 2006 entry students (22 students as control group) and lecturing session (same as control group) plus using our software, and then pharmacy placement in 2007 entry students (22 students as experiment group). We gave them a written exam at the end of the course and compared their mean scores. The experiment group also completed a researcher made questionnaire on their viewpoints about the software. Descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and T-test were used for data analysis. The mean score in the experiment group (13.1± 3.89) was significantly higher compared to that of the control (10.75±3.71) group (t=2.054, p=.046).Eighteen students from the study group (81.80%) agreed that the software could increase their quality of learning. Altogether, students in the study group approved using the pharmacy training software. Our study results showed that this software increased the quality of learning and students had positive attitude about the effectiveness of this complementary teaching method. As this software can be used outside the pharmacy environment and does not need internet access, it can be used as a helpful teaching aid in community pharmacy training.

Active listening to the patient not only is an essential key to take necessary information and achievement in medical consultation, but also shows respect to the patient. Considering teachers as the role models of future physicians, making sure about their qualifications and abilities in creating an effective therapeutic relationship seems to be necessary. Therefore, this study investigated the competency of active listening to the patients among clinical faculties of medical school in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences.

In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the sample included 30 faculty members of medical school in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences that were selected randomly using stratified sampling method. Data gathering tool was ALOS global questionnaire that its content validity and reliability (α=.87) has been confirmed. Three hundred and thirty clinical consultations through structured non-participative method were observed and tape recorded, of them, 320 visits were analyzed. Data was analyzed by JMP4 software using nonparametric tests of Mann Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis. Spearman correlation coefficient and linear regression were used for analyzing quantitative variables.

It was revealed that 30% of faculty members had received no education on communication skills. The median for active listening was 2.57 (out of 5), the lowest degree of active listening was 1.43 and it was 5 at its highest. The mode of observations was ranked as seldom and sometimes categories in most variables of active listening. The active listening mean was significantly and negatively correlated with the number of booked appointments (r=-0.20, p<0.0004).

Clinical faculty members of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences rarely or sometimes showed active listening skills in their behaviors. Medical students learn interpersonal communication skills and observe professional ethic rules within clinical settings, as they follow professional behaviors of faculty members. Therefore, it is recommended to design mechanisms to consider these skills in faculty member appointment and promotion criteria as well as planning for conducting studies on standards of medical practice and its improvement.

The great developments in medical sciences during the past three decades have made transformation and change in medical education more necessary than ever, and led to the establishment of educational development centers (EDCs). EDCs are responsible for decision-making and policy implementation to promote quality of education in universities. This research, explores faculty expectations from EDCs, as the main clients who could be the main partners, too. This is a qualitative study inspired by goal-free evaluation model. Participants were selected using purposeful sampling from faculty members in public medical universities who were either the educational managers or had worked for more than 5 years. We used semi-structured individual interviews with open questions to collect data. The interviews were continued until data saturation. The validity and reliability of this research rooted in four axes, Credibility, Transferability, Dependability and Confirmability. Thematic analysis method was used to analyze the content. Fifteen people participated in interviews. The data were categorized into 6 main themes, 16 classes (subthemes) and 9 subclasses. The main themes are as follows: EDCs’ educational role, the centers’ role in the evaluation process, return to EDCs’ existence philosophy, centers and faculty members, the centers’ role in knowledge production,and the supportive role of the centers in the development of Educational Development Offices (EDOs in school level). Extensiveand diverse expectations of the faculty members can suggest the significance and sensitivity of the centers’ roles in the quality promotion within medical universities. It seems that detection of the faculty members’ expectations and addressing them may help motivate them for better partnership. It is hoped that the results of this research will be utilized in the future planning by EDCs.

Changing the focus of teaching from patient to community is an educational strategy. The effect of evidence based community visits for risk factors of Crimean-Congo fever on students’ learning was investigated in this study. In this quasi-experimental study in year 2010, 36 nursing students of Birjand University of Medical Sciences were selected through purposive sampling during a training course in a health center. They were randomly divided into two groups of experiment (evidence based visits, n=18) and control (traditional education, n=18) to teach Crimean fever risk factors. Data were gathered using two researcher-made questionnaires as pre-test and post-test. Knowledge on Crimean fever before and after visits on unhealthy animal slaughtering in experimental group, and in control group before and after traditional education was measured. Data was analyzed by Chi2, independent and paired t tests. The mean of total score of knowledge about Crimean fever in experimental group was 4.22±1.06 (out of 5) after intervention which was significantly increased compared to that of control group (3.05±1.47) (p=0.01). The mean of total score of knowledge about Crimean fever in experimental group was 4.22±1.06 after intervention which showed a statistically significant difference (p=0.001) compared to the pre-test scores (2.66±1.81). Evidence based visits of Crimean fever risk factors in the community promotes learning. Therefore evidence based visits of appropriate subjects such as places and professions are suggested as a teaching strategy.

One of the most important approaches in nursing practice is using the nursing process model. Yet, according to the existing information, this systematic method is not widely used in Iran. Therefore, the objective of this research was to study nursing students’ opinions about a nursing process mobile software (as a means for facilitating nursing process implementation) for bedside use. This research is a pre-experimental study on 30 nursing students in 2011. The mobile software was developed according to the leaning objectives regarding nursing process in cardiology ward. It was provided to nursing students enrolled in the cardiac ward training rotation in a teaching hospital in Ahwaz. At the end of rotation, the viewpoints of the nursing students were collected through a researcher-made questionnaire. According to the most students, their knowledge and skills in nursing process was satisfactorily improved after using the software. In general, 86%. of students claimed high satisfaction rate about software. Using this software and similar tools can improve clinical skills of nursing students and encourage them to learn and implement the nursing process and thus prepare them for nursing care in clinic.