Future of Medical Education Journal
Volume:12 Issue: 1, Mar 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted learning environments across the continuum of medical education. While several recent studies have highlighted educational innovations arising from the pandemic, limited evidence exists describing beneficial changes that may have occurred from residents’ perspectives. The present study explored perceptions of post-graduate trainees from several specialties and highlighted educational ‘wins’ from pandemic innovations that should inform post-pandemic practices. A qualitative instrument was developed through input from Emergency Medicine (EM) residents, faculty, and the University of Wisconsin EM Education and Research committees. It was disseminated via email to EM, Internal Medicine, and Surgery residents who were PGY-2 or higher at a single academic institution. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis; two raters independently coded the responses of residents and arrived at consensus. Advantages of clinical reassignments included novel clinical experiences as well as the perception of contributing to a greater good. Residents noted a greater sense of meaning in their studying related to the pandemic, while also reporting greater flexibility in their options. Positive changes to didactic lectures included ease, efficiency, and comfort associated with remote lectures as well high-quality visiting expert and resident presentations. Finally, key elements of the support provided by residency programs were consistent communications, provision of relevant resources, acknowledging difficulties, and replacing lost clinical experiences.  Many innovative elements of residencies’ response to COVID-19, such as flexible scheduling and offering more opportunities for individualized learning, were well-received by trainees.

The year 2019 witnessed   major curricular reforms in terms of launching Foundation Course (FC) by National Medical Commission (NMC) as a part of CBME (Competency Based Medical Education). Feedback from various stakeholders in medical education can register its merits and demerits. This study aimed to explore perceptions of   students and faculties of 1st year MBBS, regarding implementation of FC. A mixed-method study was employed immediately as post implementation of FC using a structured questionnaire and a focus group interview to report perception of students and faculties. Study was conducted in Government medical college & Hospital, Ratlam, Madhypradesh India in September month of 2019. Majority of students i.e. 92.13 % felt, that FC orientation module helped them acclimatize to new environment and helped them engage with peers and   faculties. 91.01%   were sensitized to importance of professionalism and ethics in medicine.92.68% reported an enhancement in their communication skills, 83.70% mentioned its help in   stress management, 88.19% to 92.69% found reflective writing as an interesting exercise. Overall 87.00% graded FC as beneficial and a good program. Besides these sessions, an essential computer learning skills, community health care visit, sports, and extracurricular activities were appreciated. In addition, medical students gave mixed reviews on problems like   duration of FC, didactic teaching, and language barriers in terms of English and local. FC provides a roadmap from a knowledge centric curriculum towards a competency based performance centric curriculum. Facilitating and nurturing such programs can play a pivotal role in fostering holistic development of students.

Traditional medicine has been formally accepted in the country for many years, but it has an indefinite place in the modern medicine curriculum. While it exists in the modern medical curriculum; however, the extent of its use in this program is not clear. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to study the level of attention to issues related to traditional medicine in the curriculum of modern medical education at Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences from the students’ perspectives.

This descriptive-analytical study was conducted using a researcher-made questionnaire among 297 medical students of Mazandaran Medical School as a statistical sample. Data were analyzed using one-sample t-test.

59% of the total respondents were women,  57% of whom were married and 44% of them were residents. According to students, the use of 'lifestyle adjustment' (essential set) and 'traditional medicines' in the modern medical education curriculum of students as well as the use of 'preventive methods' of traditional medicine in modern medical education are moderate. The use of traditional medicine treatment methods in medical education in the students' curriculum is insignificant.

Results showed that the concepts of traditional medicine as complementary medicine were included in the modern medical education curriculum to a moderate extent. But it is not formally defined in the curriculum but is provided to students in the form of history or side information. This study suggests that the concepts of traditional medicine should be formally included in the curriculum of modern medical education, and the importance and value of years of experience in this science should be provided to modern physicians.

The process of conducting a student thesis has the stages among which selecting the title is undoubtedly the most important one. Students are faced with numerous challenges at this stage. The aim of this study was to determine the challenges faced by postgraduate nursing students regarding thesis title selection. This qualitative study was conducted using the conventional qualitative content analysis approach and purposive sampling method in 2017. Postgraduate nursing students of Tehran University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences who were willing to participate in the study were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. Sampling was done using purposeful sampling and continued until data saturation. Totally, 14 students with a mean age of 27.35± 3.43 participated in this study. All students were female.  Following data analysis, three categories, seven subcategories, and 245 cods emerged. The main categories extracted in this study included educational, systemic, and individual factors. According to the results of this study, paying attention to and alleviating educational, systemic, and individual challenges in choosing the appropriate thesis title seems necessary in order to accomplish the research process. Therefore, providing the necessary training, practical guidance from professors and advisors, explaining appropriate strategies in choosing the title, and enabling students in this field can play an influential role in eliminating these challenges.

Clinical education is the heart of medical education. It is one of the most important manifestations of teaching and learning in professions relating to medical sciences, leading to learners' clinical competency. This study was done to investigate general physician graduates' knowledge, performance, and clinical competency before entering the field of clinical activities. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the scores of different stations of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), held at the end of the general medicine course in Iran, were collected at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Totally, 266 students who participated in six periodicities of clinical competency examinations were included in the study by the census method. The clinical competency of general physician graduates assessed in the scopes were determined by the General Medical Education Council, including problem-solving, communication skills, practical action, taking the history, and performing physical examinations by the OSCE. The data were analyzed by SPSS software using descriptive and inferential statistics. The effect of different scopes of the OSCE (F(3,5652) = 7.022 and P = 0.001) and participants' performance based on their critical and non-critical indicators (T = 1.976 and P = 0.04) are significant with 95% confidence interval. This suggests that participants' performance varies in different scopes of the clinical examination, including problem-solving, communication skills, practical action, taking the history, and performing physical examinations. The differences in the clinical competencies of general physician graduates in mentioned scopes were significant. This emphasizes the need to examine their essential skills to achieve the minimum competencies expected of a future physician before entering the field of clinical activity.

Feedback is a vital component of clinical training and a key responsibility of nursing instructors. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of elaborating feedback cards on students’ learning and their satisfaction in the Fundamentals of nursing course.  Single-blind semi-experimental study randomly assigned 60 undergraduate nursing students in the fundamental course to a control group and an intervention group. The control group received routine portfolio-based trainings. In addition to the routine training, elaborating feedback cards were used in the intervention group.  On feedback cards, student received supplementary explanation in addition to correct response. The students’ learning was measured based on the score obtained from their portfolio as well as different dimensions of their satisfaction were measured on a Likert scale. Data analyzing was performed by SPSS V.23 using descriptive and inferential statistics. A statistically-significant difference was observed in the mean score of the students between the intervention group, i.e. 17.82±0.88, and that of the controls, i.e. 16.20±2.15 (P<0.0001). The satisfaction score of the students was also significantly higher in the intervention group (49.06±6.53) than in the control group (37.63±7.32) (P<0.0001). Using elaborating feedback cards in the fundamentals of nursing course can improve learning and satisfaction of the students. This practical, simple and fast method is therefore recommended to be used in clinical trainings.

Identity formation is regarded as the most important issue during adolescence. The present study aimed to assess the role of academic identity status in psychological well-being.

This descriptive correlation study was conducted on medical sciences students admitted to Birjand University of Medical Sciences in 2017. The statistical population included 600 cases out of whom 240 subjects were selected via the simple random sampling method. Two questionnaires were employed for data collection: Isaacson's academic identity, and Ryff's scale of psychological well-being. The data were analyzed in SPSS (version 19) using descriptive statistics and stepwise regression.

The achieved identity was positively and significantly correlated with the variables of relationships with others, self-acceptance, and independence (P<0.05). The diffused identity had a significantly negative correlation with self-acceptance and positive relationship with others. Moratorium identity was significantly and negatively associated with self-acceptance. Furthermore, the correlation between foreclosed identity and self-acceptance was positive and significant.

As evidenced by the results of the current study, successful identity contributes greatly to various dimensions of psychological well-being; therefore, family, school, and media perform a major educative role in the provision of appropriate training during growth and facilitation of search and discovery.

In order to improve the quality of university services and adopt appropriate educational policies, continuous monitoring is essential. The purpose of this study was to compare the academic satisfaction of students in two fields of midwifery education and counseling in midwifery and job satisfaction of graduates of two fields.

In the comparative-analytical cross-sectional study, by complete enumeration survey method, 300 students and graduates of the master’s degree consisted of 150 midwifery education graduates and student, and 150 counseling in midwifery graduates and students from the region 2 of the country's health (Tabriz, Urmia and Ardabil Universities of Medical Sciences) entered the study in 2020-2021. Data collection tools were questionnaires of demographic characteristics, Minnesota job satisfaction and educational satisfaction. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software version 21 .

The mean (standard deviation:SD) of the overall score of academic satisfaction of counseling students in midwifery was 129.3 (17.7) from the range of 0-205 and that of the midwifery education was 126.7 (17.7) from the range of 0-205 (P>0.05). The mean (SD) job satisfaction of counseling in midwifery graduates was 56.0 (9.6) and that of the midwifery education was 57.9 (9.5) from the range of 0-95. Job satisfaction rate of majority of midwifery education graduates (49.3%) was very good, whereas it was moderate (58.7%) in counseling graduates,(P>0.05). The mean (SD) score of satisfaction with the payment system (P=0.035) and job conditions (P=0.015) in midwifery education graduates was significantly higher.

There was no significant difference between students in the two courses in terms of academic satisfaction. The job satisfaction of the graduates of counseling in midwifery was significantly low in terms of payment system and job conditions, in comparision to midwifery education.

With the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic, the transition from traditional educational approaches to modern methods has become more important. In fact, the emergence of this epidemic was able to revolutionize medical education by integrating e-learning into all levels of education and continuing education programs. Undoubtedly, this epidemic also provided opportunities for learners to innovate new learning experiences and take us beyond traditional classrooms and lecture-based learning. From the learners' point of view, e-learning has not been able to replace traditional education, but rather it can be used as a combined learning strategy. Therefore, due to the educational disorder caused by the Corona crisis, we decided to change the teaching methods of anatomy courses for medical students and use a Flipped classroom design model with small private online courses, combined training strategies to create results. Provide effective learning in the context of using new technologies. In fact, we tried to actively involve learners in this comprehensive approach so that we could facilitate learning.