A SURVEY ON THE THEORY AND PRACTICE GAP IN MASHHAD NURSING AND MIDWIFERY FACULTY

According to WHO, annually, 515,000,000 maternal mortality (MMR) occurs in the world. However, the majority of them are preventable by increasing knowledge and skills of delivery room staff. Previous studies have shown that the most common cause of MMR is poor performance in delivery units in Iran. The present study was aimed to determine the theory and skill training gap in undergraduate midwifery students. In this descriptive-correlative study, 31 senior midwifery students participated. This research was done in four midwifery fields (delivery room, gynecological unit, prenatal care unit, maternal and child health) during five days by two examiners. Four checklists were used to evaluate undergraduates. The data were analyzed statistically. T hen concurrent validity was measured by Pearson test. Finally, based on correlation coefficient degree of validity was determined (more than 0.7 showed high validity and reliability, 0.5-0.7 middle validity, and less than 0.5 poor validity). Pearson test indicated that there were poor and middle concurrent validity, respectively (r=0.22 P=0.20) (r=0.52 P=0.01). Therefore, there was high theoretical and technical skill training. A ccording to this study there is a gap between theory and practice in educational programs that reduces sufficiently in midwifery students. We recommend increasing the cooperation of clinical and educational groups in planning a more practical curriculum.