Analysis of the Education Costs of Nursing and Midwifery Students in the Autonomous Hospitals Affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences

The estimation and analysis of the education costs of students helps with the better decision-making of managers and policymakers by providing information on the performance of the involved units. The present study aimed to assess the education costs of the nursing and midwifery students in the autonomous hospitals affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences.

This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted to calculate the direct education costs of nursing and midwifery students in various levels from the perspective of hospitals in the academic year 2018-2019. The selected hospitals included Firoozgar, Hazrat Rasoul, Akbarabadi, Ali Asghar, Firoozabadi, Hasheminejad, Shohada-e Haft-e Tir, Lolagar, Motahhari, Iran Psychiatry, and Shafa Yahiaian. The real and direct costing approach was applied in the sttudy. After identifying the cost headings and structured interviews with the educational department managers, educational supervisors, clinical and financial managers, faculty members, and students (n=20), the share of the students in each cost heading was determined based on work study and time study. The study tools in the first and second stages were the interview guide and checklist, respectively.

The highest per capita cost of undergraduate education was observed in midwifery Bachelor of Science at Akbarabadi Hospital (1,125,926), and the lowest per capita cost was observed in postgraduate psychiatric nursing at Ali Asghar Hospital (46,154). In addition, the most important cost headline for the education of these students was the costs of consumables.

Due to the high costs of educating students, transparency should be promoted in educational processes through the implementation of brainstorming sessions among the heads of departments, directors of nursing and midwifery schools, hospital educational authorities, and students in order to properly manage the costs of education.