Academic burnout, in addition to affecting different aspects of the students' personal lives, can have many negative impacts on their academic and family conditions.

 The present study aimed to investigate the relationships between academic burnout and hope for the future through examining the mediating role of stress in medical students.

 The statistical population of this descriptive-correlational study included all students at Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences in 2022. Multistage cluster sampling was used to select 301 students. The research instruments included the Academic Burnout Questionnaire, the Attitudes towards Education and Career Prospects Scale, and Medical Student Stressor Questionnaire. The proposed model was evaluated using structural equation modeling (SEM).

 The results showed that the direct path from hope for the future to stress was significant (P < 0.001). The indirect path from hope for the future to academic burnout was significant with the mediation of stress (P < 0.001), while the direct path from hope for the future to academic burnout was not significant.

 Stress mediated the relationship between hope for the future and academic burnout. It was also found that the proposed model had a desirable goodness of fit and may have been considered a major step in identifying the factors responsible for academic burnout in medical students. Given that stress was a central factor in academic burnout, it was suggested that policymakers should appreciate the necessity of providing the stressed students with support from family members and instructors.

Context: 

During the COVID-19 pandemic and challenges, medical education with insight toward training competent students with a global vision has highlighted the necessity of a robust approach toward sustainable development (SD) on internationalization. Inevitable transformations in medical education and its internationalization component due to the COVID-19 pandemic have not yet been investigated. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to assess the current situation and propose the operational framework of internationalization for medical education with a global vision toward SD.

Evidence Acquisition:

 A critical review was conducted on English papers extracted from Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed, and Elsevier databases using the following search terms: Sustainable development, operational approach, educational environment, management strategies, internationalization, and COVID-19. Boolean operators were used to eliminate inappropriate hits with a focus on research goals. Ineligible studies were excluded by screening titles and abstracts. The knowledge management was applied to the related findings of the internationalization of medical education components.

 Evidence presents a new order of internationalization components of internal and external dimensions with an educational paradigm shift to virtual programs. Assessing these dimensions indicated the requirement of implementing SD. The suggested pathway should initiate from the internal institution dimensions (facilities and budget component with generating income), followed by the external institution dimensions (sociocultural element and nation-building).

 The COVID-19 pandemic has forced educational institutions to shift to virtual education. The designed framework highlights educational activities toward virtual education and earning income, empowering faculties, and meeting social needs in medical education to achieve SD.

Context: 

Critical thinking (CT) has been recognized as a key learning outcome in health profession education (HPE). A holistic, well-defined process for initiating CT is essential to promote critical problem-solving in HPE students. Various perceptions of CT have emerged from different paradigms and disciplines. Integration of this variability into the CT process could be beneficial for medical educators to develop CT in learners. This study aimed to outline the CT process in view of the multiple conceptualizations of CT.

Evidence Acquisition: 

In this narrative review, SID, Google Scholar, and PubMed databases were searched. After studying 35 selected articles, the CT process was formulated based on the multiple conceptualizations of CT.

 Multiple perceptions of CT, emerged from disciplines and paradigms, should be incorporated into the CT process to achieve strong CT. In view of this multiplicity, not only the CT skills but also its dispositions are of key importance in the CT process. Furthermore, the essential role of the context in which the CT takes place, one’s own creativity, metacognition over the thinking process, social construction of meaning, caring to others, and seeking problems through challenging the systems should be considered.

 We outlined the CT process, grounded from multiple conceptualizations of CT, and advocated for the use of it by HPE students to promote critical problem-solving in facing complex challenges during their professional careers.

 Many educators have developed an interest in an emerging new concept called entertainment education (edutainment). Edutainment is a kind of tool that, in this age of technology, can be easily incorporated into education.

 This study aimed to use edutainment for teaching orthodontic lateral cephalometric and dental cast analysis as well as to evaluate the dental students’ attitudes towards it.

 In this cross-sectional study, the multimedia-enhanced with edutainment was designed using Articulate Storyline version 3.5. To evaluate the students’ attitudes, 52 ninth-semester dental students doing their second semester in 2019 - 2020 were included in the study. Then they were asked to complete a standard questionnaire with a 7-point Likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree and including 26 items in eight domains of perceived self-efficacy, perceived satisfaction, understanding usefulness, behavioral concept, e-learning system quality, interactive learning activities, e-learning effectiveness, and multimedia instructions. Data were analyzed and expressed using independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, and descriptive statistics.

 The majority of the students had positive attitudes towards the areas of perceived self-efficacy (83.3%), perceived satisfaction (90.4%), perceived usefulness (96.8%), behavioral intention (91.7%), e-learning system quality (75%), interactive learning activities (73.1%), e-learning effectiveness (88.5%), and multimedia education (85.3%).

 In sum, the students’ attitudes towards learning were positively and significantly influenced by the designed educational multimedia enhanced with edutainments to teach lateral cephalometric analysis in orthodontics. It was found that the application of edutainment as an educational tool together with traditional training may have been an effective method for teaching and, therefore, it was recommended that edutainment should be used as an alternative to traditional methods during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Context: 

Universities are among the best places to foster innovation and provide services, as they are in close contact with clients. In order to offer the best possible services, they need to be innovative in their respective fields. Service innovation is widely recognized as one of the three strategic research priorities of service institutions. Given the vast number and types of services available, various models are adopted to achieve this goal.

Evidence Acquisition: 

This article aims to provide a critical review of the available service innovation models and propose a comprehensive service innovation model. To achieve this objective, relevant keywords were used to conduct a literature search in databases. Initially, 1504 studies were obtained, and after a screening process, only 10 studies that were most relevant to the study's purpose were selected.

 The model proposed in this study is an integrated form of service innovation models, encompassing the process, dimensions, required infrastructures, capabilities, and the types and outcomes of service innovation, which are discussed separately in other models.

 Service innovation is a complex and resource-intensive activity with potential long-term benefits for firms in both service and manufacturing industries. If a service company aims to establish a more sustainable strategic position based on innovation, it should examine its management process for physical, organizational, and intellectual resources.

 Health professionals should receive lifelong education to maintain competency in medication administration and ensure safe medical practice. Game-based education is one way to enhance and ensure health professionals’ medication competency.

 This study aimed to describe registered nurses’ experiences of the Imagine 3D game and their views of the effectiveness of this game-based education program in improving their medication competency.

 This qualitative interview study included eight registered nurses who completed an education program based on the 3D game Imagine, which aims to strengthen medication administration competency. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews between March and April 2019 and analyzed using content analysis.

 Three themes were extracted from the study with the following concepts: (1) experiences of playing; (2) the usability of the game in verifying nurses’ medication competency; and (3) the game’s effectiveness in fostering registered nurses’ medical competency. On analyzing the nurses’ personal experiences, the game-based education program was valuable in training nurses to enhance their medication administration competency. Participants reported that the game was comfortable to play and useful in repeated medication administration tasks, and it increased their self-reflection and even changed their actions based on learning. The nurses reported that the game was most beneficial to nursing students and recent graduates and was used especially during the introductory period. Moreover, based on the interviews, the game was also useful in continuing education; therefore, it should be applied in all healthcare professionals’ training.

 This study shows that a 3D computer game can be useful for nurses to foster their knowledge and expertise in medication administration tasks.

 Teaching undergraduate medical students clinical skills in a child health setting is a particular challenge for clinical educators. Students spend less time with pediatric patients and have fewer opportunities to practice clinical skills. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic further reduced students’ opportunities to observe and practice skills in the workplace. This has necessitated a greater shift towards teaching skills in a "skills lab" setting, which allows for simulated practice in a safe environment. This study reports the design, implementation, and evaluation of a standardized course that utilizes the "skills lab" to train undergraduate medical students in five clinical skills important to child health.

 This study aimed to implement and evaluate a standardized undergraduate clinical skills course for child health and improve students' confidence in performing child health clinical skills.

 Evaluations were carried out over approximately one academic year, with a total of 174 participants from a single medical school in the United Kingdom. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected, examining students' self-reported confidence (pre- and post-course) along with free-text course evaluations. A paired t-test was used to calculate the mean difference in students' pre- and post-course confidence scores. Qualitative evaluations were analyzed for themes using framework analysis.

 The students had greater confidence in all measured learning outcomes following the course. Qualitative data, examined using framework analysis, suggested that the course was valued by students, who felt it was relevant to their future practice. Numerous written comments suggested particular content and teaching methods that were strengths of the course, including practical elements, small group teaching, and feedback from tutors.

 Implementing a child health clinical skills course in a skills lab setting is feasible and valued by students. The course increased the self-reported confidence of the studied cohort and might therefore support them in practicing these skills with actual patients. Further studies are required to determine whether these effects demonstrate longevity and whether they translate to increased competence in performing the taught skills.