Journal of Medical Education Development
Volume:14 Issue: 43, Autumn 2020

Communication skills play a pivotal role in enhancing the clinical acumen of physicians. Formal training in this aspect is urgently needed in India due to increased patient-clinician conflicts. The present study aimed to assess the knowledge and attitude toward clinical communication skills among undergraduate medical students and provide training by an interprofessional approach.

This interventional study was conducted on 35 phase-two medical students who were assessed in terms of their knowledge and attitude toward communication skills. Following that, training workshops encompassing various interactive sessions were implemented by an interprofessional team. Categorical variables were expressed as numbers and percentages, and continuous variables were expressed as mean and standard deviation. Paired t-test was used to compare the mean scores at the significance level of P<0.05.

The majority of the students (91.4%) opined that communication skills are essential for a medical practitioner. The mentors’ assessment indicated an increase in the mean score of communication skills (17.8±2.47) after the interventional training workshops compared to the pre-intervention score (6.9±5.67; P<0.05). In addition, the post-training feedback revealed that 94.3% of the students believed that the training provided an insight into understanding the importance of having proper communication skills in fostering strong therapeutic patient care.

According to the results, the students had a positive attitude toward learning communication skills. Our findings emphasize the teaching of these skills through an integrated, interprofessional approach to make the learning experience more productive.

A concept map is recognized as a beneficial tool that can lead to course content comprehension through information processing. There is limited research on the use of concept mapping in the clinical education of nursing students. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of the concept mapping method on nursing students’ perception of teaching-learning conditions.

This was a quasi-experimental study with a posttest performed on 84 nursing students who received the special nursing apprenticeship credit. The students were divided into two control (n=40) and experimental (n=44) groups by simple random method. The content of the course of patient care process design in CCU was taught to the subjects in the control and experimental groups by the conventional (columnar) and concept map methods, respectively. Data were collected using a two-section questionnaire encompassing demographic characteristics and the experiences of the teaching and learning questionnaire (ETLQ). In addition, data analysis was performed using descriptive and analytical methods such as independent t-test and one-way ANOVA.

In this study, there was a significant difference between the two groups regarding the scores of four subscales of organization and structure, teaching and learning, students and teachers, and assessment and other set work and overall ETL score.

It is suggested that the concept map method be used as a beneficial technique in the area of nursing students’ clinical education.

Regarding the process of attraction and admission of international students, it is important to identify the academic challenges of international students and provide appropriate conditions towards meeting their academic and social needs. The present study aimed to identify the components affecting the academic status of international students in Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran.

The experiences of international students were examined from October 2019 to February 2021 using conventional qualitative content analysis and in-depth semi-structured interviews.

In this study, four main themes were extracted, including occupational concerns, obstacles of effective learning, managing students’ academic and supportive affairs, and academic immigration affairs. In addition, 12 subthemes were achieved including the credibility of the university, graduation qualifications, educational content, curriculum planning, assessment and evaluation, foreign language stress, organization of administrative-educational affairs, e-learning support and infrastructure affairs, the organizational culture of internationalization, student welfare, and social affairs, consular affairs and banking and foreign exchange finance.

Components of language stress, the organizational culture of internationalization, the organization of administrative-educational affairs, student welfare and social affairs have been reported by other universities at home and abroad. However, considering the Covid-19 pandemic and banking sanctions against Iran, two new components of e-learning support/infrastructure affairs and banking and foreign exchange finance respectively, were achieved. Therefore, these new items need to be evaluated and provided with appropriate solutions.

Animation can recreate events that are difficult to show in the real world or visualize in the mind. so, it seems to be useful in teaching courses such as anatomy, which has many intangible concepts.

This study was quasi-experimental. The statistical population included pharmacy students who were randomly substituted in two groups of 30 experimental and control using a random number table. The experimental group was trained in the circulatory and urinary systems in the form of animation and the control group was trained in lecture using the lecture method, which is the common method of teaching these articles. The level of learners 'knowledge was assessed through a researcher-made test based on the table of objective-content characteristics as pre-test and post-test and students' attitudes were assessed through a standard user satisfaction questionnaire.

The usage of animation had a positive effect on the knowledge and attitude of pharmacy students and there was a clear difference between the mean points of the experimental and control groups in the post-test with a 95% confidence level. Based on analysis of covariance, at the knowledge level, the effect size was estimated to be 0/38 and at the Attitude level, this value was estimated at 0/40.

Using animation in teaching anatomy course in the field of pharmacy, a new structure and showing content related to the circulatory and urinary systems in the form of two-dimensional moving images, and performing various skills include showing the correct method and location of incision in dissecting organs and creating better visualization of the subject matter, will increase the knowledge and attitude of pharmacy students.

Professional ethics is a process that guarantees students’ individual and group welfare maintenance, the violation of which damages students’ learning. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the relationship between professional ethics, communication skills and job performance of clinical teachers at Lorestan University of Medical Sciences.

This descriptive, cross-sectional study was performed on all clinical teachers in the school of medicine, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, selected by census sampling. Data were collected using David Musick’s 26-item instrument, which included professional ethics and communication skills, along with the Paterson Job Performance Questionnaire. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 22 using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation coefficient and independent t-test.

In this study, 115 out of 176 teachers completed the tools. In terms of age, 64.3% of the subjects were male. Moreover, the mean age of the participants was reported to be 41.78±6.33 years. The results were indicative of a significant relationship only between communication skills and variables of age, being a faculty member and work experience. In addition, there was a positive and direct association between adherence to professional ethics and communication skills, and between the two components and job performance.

Given the direct relationship between professional ethics and communication skills with job performance, it could be concluded that the improvement of the professional ethics of teachers will increase their job performance.

The internationalization of universities based on upstream documents, such as the 20-year vision document or the scientific roadmap, has been defined as a necessity and priority. On the other hand, organizational culture is regarded as a key factor in promoting and preventing organizational change. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate effective organizational culture components design to internationalize universities. 

This was a qualitative study, and its data was selected by a grounded theory approach and interviews with experts. Overall, semi-structured interviews were made with 23 experts selected by purposive sampling, and data collection continued until reaching saturation. In addition, data analysis was carried out by the fixed comparative analysis method, as well as open, axial, and selective coding stages.

From the perspective of experts, there are 10 components and 54 sub-components in the organizational culture of universities’ internationalization. In this regard, the main components included management and leadership, human, physical and financial resources, teachers, language, culture and values, organizational communication and interaction, educational, research and welfare services, growth and excellence of the organization, creativity and innovation, organizational structure, and students..

Organizational culture based on strategic, systemic, process, global, creative thinking between university administrators and staff capabilities in terms of cultural resilience, commitment and belonging, meritocracy, teamwork, language skills and university visibility in terms of accreditation and ranking results played an important role in the internationalization of universities.

This study aimed to recognize the clinical education challenges of radiographytechnology students and to improve the current clinical education status by the action research approach.

This was action research performed by Kemmis and McTaggart approach in four academic semesters during 2019-2020 at Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences. In total, 48 third and fourth-year radiographytechnology students, as well as the department chairman and two educators were enrolled in the study. Individual semi-structured interviews were made with the subjects with a focus on the identification of problems and presenting solutions. In addition, data were analyzed by a conventional content analysis method. The proposed strategies were exploited in the implementation stage and the effectiveness of the program was assessed by individual interviews and group sessions.

The planning stage findings demonstrated that improper design and organization of apprenticeship programs, incompatibility of clinical courses with theory courses, inefficient training in the hospital, inadequate summative evaluation, and lack of welfare facilities in the hospital were regarded as barriers to clinical learning of students. Following determining and classification of issues, measures were taken in the implementation stage in cooperation with the educational authorities of the faculty and clinic to achieve goals in this field. In addition, observation and reflection results confirmed students’ satisfaction with early return measures.

The participation of clinical education experts and radiographytechnology students led to a more accurate understanding of problems of clinical education and examining possible solutions to improve the situation. Students were clearly satisfied with the changes made in the implementation stage. Overall, students had a positive reaction for being a member of the planning group to eliminate their education problems.

Academic vitality is one of the effective factors of learning and plays a significant role in the academic success of students. The present study aimed to predict academic vitality in students based on family emotional atmosphere, flourishing and self-compassion.

This was a correlational study performed on all BSc students of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences in the first semester of 2019-2020. In total, 339 subjects were selected by random sampling, and data were collected using the academic vitality scale, the affective family emotional atmosphere questionnaire, the self-compassion scale, and the flourishing questionnaire. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 24 using descriptive statistics and the canonical correlation method.

In this study, there was a significant relationship between academic vitality and family emotional atmosphere, flourishing and self-compassion in students (F=75.38, λ=0.69, P<0.001). Furthermore, the regression analysis results explained 31% of the variance of academic vitality with predictors of family emotional atmosphere, flourishing and self-compassion.

Our findings could be used by higher education planners to adopt appropriate educational policies in order to recognize factors affecting vitality.