Journal of Medical Education
Volume:5 Issue: 3, Agu 2003

Although nutrition has a very important role in individual and society’s health and disease, it has not yet received proper attention in the curriculum of medical schools. To assess the opinions of nutrition instructors in medical schools and universities about nutrition education. In this descriptive survey, a questionnaire was prepared and sent to all nutrition instructors and they were asked to fill the questionnaire and send it back. Statistical analysis was performed on received answers. Almost all instructors believed that nutrition education is not satisfactory in medical schools. They also announced that the physicians’ ability in screening nutritional diseases, diagnosing patients’ nutritional problems, presenting nutritional guidelines to their patients, providing useful nutritional guidelines to the healthy population, and providing nutritional consultation to their patients is restricted. The graduates are also not familiar with specific nutritional cares for each disease. The results show that nutrition education is not enough in our country. It seems that horizontal and vertical integration of nutrition education in medical curriculum can be an effective way to increase physicians’ skills in nutrition.

Curriculum evaluation is a part of any educational system and one of the main factors that can lead education from its static position to a more dynamic one. To evaluate the curriculum of nursing BSc course by surveying the graduates and last-year students of Semnan Nursing School. The sample group in this descriptive qualitative study is all last-year students and graduates of the first 11 years of foundation of Semnan Nursing School. Data-colleting tool was a questionnaire consisting of two parts: demographic data and survey questions. The questionnaire was distributed after determining its content validity and scientific reliability. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistical indices including mean value and standard deviation. The units of some courses should be changed and the content of some other courses are not compatible or has no use in the field of nursing. Some of them don’t help understanding the specialized courses. Some of the settings are not appropriate for education and the students often can’t use their theoretical knowledge in clerkship. The equipment and facilities are not suitable in all settings and the students of other schools have to share equipment, except in “community health clerkship”. The samples found all the duties assigned by their instructors effective in their education –except in “community health clerkship. They believed that all of the instructors haveenough expertise in clinical training. In order to improve the quality of education, the decision-makers and faculty members are to review the nursing curriculum. Further studies are needed to achieve more accurate results. The results of all these studies will show the problems that the graduates would probably encounter in their job environment, and either theoretical or clinical education is of more use to them. It’s hoped that changing the curriculum could meet the nation’s needs to expert nurses.

In recent decades explosion of knowledge seriously challenged the conventional educational models based on the transmitted knowledge. Most people recognize the need for critical thinking skills in recent years. This study was performed to assess the effects of two educational methods, classic and critical thinking strategies (CTS), on the stable learning of nursing students. The current experiment is a quasi-experimental study conducted to 17 nursery students of the 3rd semester of Semnan University of Medical Science. We divided gastrointestinal (GI) disease nursing course into two separate parts consisted of upper GI diseases and lower GI diseases. First part was educated with classic method and second part with CTS method. Final test of each part was performed independently one week after the end of each part. In order to assess the stable learning in students, post test of each part was done with an interval of 3 months (12 week) after the primary test without any preinforming. In order to assess the effects of CTS method on students’ critical thinking skills, critical thinking skills levels of students was evaluated in the beginning and the end of semester with California critical thinking skills test (form B). Data were analyzed using SPSS statistical software. Correlation coefficients between scores obtained by the subjects under study in the primary and secondary exams in CTS- and classical-based courses were 0.856 and 0.787, respectively. There was a significant difference between levels of critical thinking skills before and after implementation of CTS based educational method (p=0.041). Both methods lead to stable learning in nursing students and there is no significant statistical difference between two methods. On the other hand, CTS-based method can increase students’ critical thinking skills.

Research project is an educational means to increase the students’ creativity and motivates them to take on solving medical and health problems. To assess the attitudes of Qazvin’s medical practitioners toward their earlier research projects. The views of 202 physicians (residents, general practitioners, specialists and sub-specialists) who were practicing in Qazvin province and had been graduated between 1986 and 2001 were collected with a selfadministeredstructured questionnaire. Most research projects did not received any facilities from their universities. Only 2.5% had received financial support. Of 202 physicians, 60.9% received no supervision in choosing their research projects topics. Most research projects had little or no impact on the scientific and practical skills, future careers and their postgraduateresidency program. However, most physicians stated that research project is necessary for medical students and pointed out the need for more education on research methodologic fundamentals. Of all respondents, 73% believed that they had little or no knowledge about research methodologies. Overall, our findings indicate that the research projects do not meet the standards of sound research work.

Universities have important responsibilities to prevent physical, emotional, social and academic problems during the course of their study. To achieve this goal, it is necessary that universities offer effective academic advising services to the students. To investigate the effectiveness of programs offered for developing academic consultants (AC) ability by assessing students’ satisfaction with the consultation they recieve. From a total of 90 ACs and 2,500 students in the Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, 72 AC and 445 students from four colleges (Medicine, Health Sciences, Dentistry, Nursing and Midwifery) voluntarily participated in the pretest. 87 ACs were randomly assigned into two groups (Group Bf participated in a workshopdesigned based on PRECEDE model; Group Cf was offered material relevant to academic consultation). According to the AC groups, the students were divided into groupBs(n=363; their AC have participated in workshop), group Cs (n=408; their AC received Educational Material), and groupDs (n= 190; the student have no active AC). Data collection was conducted by questionnaires, pre-test and post-test (after one academic semester prior to the intervention). Mean scores of knowledge (M=14.77, SD=3.01) (especially in the College of Medicine and Dentistry) andattitude (M=61.79, SD=5.78) of AC about offering effective academic advising to th students was improved significantly in both intervention groups, but this effect was more pronounced in group Bf compared with group Cf (M= 1 1.54,SD=2.76; M=59.23,SD=8.6) (n=44), and group Af (the pre-test group) (M=10.67,SD=4.2;M=57.2,SD=1 1.6). Students in group Bf significantly were more satisfied with consultation they received and more willing to use consultation services of their ACs. The PRECEDE model''s educational workshop program was more effective in modifying the AC ability in offering effective academic advising, guiding, and consultation.

Iranian talented university students who take semester averages below 17 for at most two times can''t use facilities provided for Gifted and Talented students in Universities through Ministry of Health (MOH) directive regarding gifted and talented student. To examine the validity of article 13 of this directive. Renzulli''s three ring concept of giftedness was chosen as giftedness definition. Obtaining Grade Point Averages equal or more than 15 was regarded as "above average ability". A questionnaire, based on “Scales for Rating the Behavioural Characteristics of Superior Students” was designed for "creativity" and "task commitment"evaluation. Score 3.00 or more in "creativity" and "task commitment" evaluation was regarded to be sufficient to keep the student in the program. Students who were admitted in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences during 1997-1999 and recognized as gifted initially by MOH were included in our study. 147 students were included in this study, of which 50% were female. From the study group, 20 student reports, done by 39 students were evaluated. Of these 39 students, 31 would have been left out based on article. Out of 31 students, 18 met all three criteria of Renzulli''s definition. There may be gifted student who are denied the opportunity of using the facilities provided for gifted student based on enforcement of article 13 of IGCT directive. Further study to devise better measure for identification of gifted student seems to be warranted.

One common investigative tool for the gastrointestinal tract diseases is endoscopy, and gastroenterologists provide this service. However, in recent years some internists provide this service, which has raised concerns in gastroenterologist society. To assess the viewpoints of Iranian physicians on whether internist can do endoscopic procedures The study performed in Tehran and Isfahan with a convenience sampling of practitioners who participated in CME courses. The sample consisted of different groups of general practitioners, internists, internal medicine residents and gastroenterologists. A self-administered questionnaire with Likert type answerswas used to determine the attitudes of the practitioners toward this item. For elective diagnostic endoscopy the median of what expressed by internists and residents was complete agreement (+2) whereas for gastroenterologists it was agreement (1) and for gastroenterology fellowships, it was disagreement(-1); the difference was significant (p<0.001). Adding the lack of gastroenterologists’ services to the question, the median opinion expressed by gastroenterologists and fellows changed to complete agreement (2) with inclusion of the item in the task list of general internist (p<0.05). This difference was not seen for more complex therapeutic procedures(sclerotherapy, ERCP) in fellows’ and gastroenterologists’ choices, but internists and residents still agreed that an internist should be allowed to perform these tasks. Reaching an agreement on borders of neighboring specialties or disciplines may be very difficult due to methodological pitfalls that face the planners, as well as professional sensitivities common in specialist societies