Journal of Medical Education
Volume:10 Issue: 2, May 2006

Background and Higher education is growing fast and every day it becomes more and more exposed to globalization processes. The aim of this study was to determine the quality gap of educational services by using a modified SERVQUAL instrument among students in Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences In this cross-sectional study, a total of 300 students were randomly selected from all students of Hormozgan University of Medical Science and were asked to fill a questionnaire that was designed according to SERVQUAL method. This questionnaire measures students’ perceptions and expectations in five dimensions of service that consists of assurance, responsiveness, empathy, reliability and tangibles. The quality gap of educational services was determined based on differences between students’ perceptions and expectations. The results demonstrated that in all of the five SERVQUAL dimensions, there was a negative quality gap. The least and the most negative quality gap mean were in reliability (-0.71) and responsiveness (-1.14) respectively. Also there were significant differences between perceptions and expectations of students in all of the five SERVQUAL dimensions (p<0.001). Negative quality gap means students’ expectations are more than their perceptions. So improvements are needed across all of the five dimensions.

Background and The relation of comprehensive exams scores and other measures of students’ performance has been of great importance. This study is an attempt to assess the associations between medical students’ scores in physiopathology and clinical courses and to compare these scores with their scores in the comprehensive exams. Medical students’ scores in their courses and also in their comprehensive exam in six consecutive years were collected. Using Pearson correlation coefficient and linear regression, we assessed the associations between students’ scores and their personal characteristics, and the consistency between theoretical and practical courses. In addition, we computed difficulty and discrimination indices of students’ scores in their courses by comparing these scores with comprehensive clinical exam (CPE). A total of 481 students’ score were included. Females and younger students score higher.CPE were predicted by students’ scores and their characteristics rather accurately with the adjusted R2 of 0.59. Students’ scores in pathology and in thesis had the highest and lowest discrimination indices, while the difficulties of these two courses were in reverse order. The strongest association was observed between theoretical and practical scores in internal medicine while the associations between theoretical and practical scores in the other courses were not strong although all of them were statistically significant. Using this approach to explore the students’ score, might highlight the weak points of current educational system. For example we found that the students’ score in thesis had the lowest association; although students obtained very high score in this course. Using our method with scores of students in other medical schools may provide better understanding of medical students performance’s relation with countrywide comprehensive exam.

Background and Use of valid and reliable instruments is the important way for collecting data in quantitative researches. This study was conducted to examine the extent of factor analysis use for specifying construct validity of instruments in quantitative research papers published in an internationally recognized journal. An internationally recognized journal, Nursing Research, was chosen for the review. All articles published in 2003 in this journal were reviewed. Only quantitative research articles that used instruments in need of construct validity verification were included. Each article was completely reviewed to identify the methods of instrument validation. Among 55 research articles, 40 (73%) were quantitative. Among these 40 articles, 8 articles (20%) were dealing with developing an instrument and one article was a meta-analysis and these 9 articles were excluded. Of the other 31 articles, only 4 (12.9%) used a method for specifying the construct validity of the instrument in the study, and 2 (6.5%) used factor analysis for establishing construct validity of the instrument. Although factor analysis is a well recognized method in establishing the construct validity but its use is much less than expected.

Background and Future generalists require in depth exposure to primary care practice and the opportunity to work with successful generalist role models. Changes in hospital practice, patient availability, increased student numbers and their expectations and a redefinition of expected learning outcomes are changing the emphasis of clinical teaching away from traditional inpatient settings towards ambulatory care. In this study we evaluated the quality and quantity of clinical training in medical schools of Iran, and ranked the schools according to each category of criteria. In the first step an expert committee devised the criteria and indicators for evaluation of the quality and quantity of clinical education and the weights were determined with the consensus developing techniques among the expert committee members. The questionnaire was developed and after data collection the schools’ scores were calculated according to the scoring instructions and the final analysis was performed. Regarding the quantitative criteria, i.e. the number and facilities of the clinics, Tehran Medical School, and according to the qualitative criteria, i.e. the quality of clinical training at each school, Sanandaj Medical School gained the first ranks. This is while the presence of residents in these schools is not alike. Quantity and quality of clinical training in a medical school are not necessarilycongruent. It seems that some factors like the presence of residents in teaching clinics can influence the students’ training.

Background and This study intends to identify the numbers and some characteristics of the teachers of various English courses offered at medical universities affiliated to the Ministry of Health during the second semester of the academic year 2005-6. Background and This study intends to identify the numbers and some characteristics of the teachers of various English courses offered at medical universities affiliated to the Ministry of Health during the second semester of the academic year 2005-6. The methods used in this research were “gathering existing data”, and “descriptive study”. The research was conducted by sending a questionnaire to 41 medical universities. The data from 40 questionnaires received, were arranged in 5 tables. It was found that during the semester studied, in all, about 1795,5 credits of different courses of English were taught by 254 teachers including 52 credits of pre-university English, 1083,5 credits of general English and 660 credits of specialized English(ESP). Out of the total of 1795,5 credits, 815,5 credits (45.5%) were taught by the English teachers of the language departments of the same universities (64 teachers); 612 credits (34) by visiting English teachers (96 teachers); and the rest, about 368 credits (20.5%) by teachers with different medical or paramedical specialties, beingfaculty members of different medical or paramedical departments of the same universities (94 teachers). There is a clear lack of English lecturers graduated in English language. Since our goal of teaching English language in universities of medicine is that students be competent in understanding the meaning of original text and research articles and communicate well in international academic circles we need faculties that are specially trained for teaching English language. The number and the quality of English teachers in universities of medicine should be improved.

Background and Although nutrition has a very important role in individual and society’s health and disease, it has not yet received proper attention in the medical curricula. The objective of this study is to assess the opinions of general physician who worked at private offices in Khorramabad city about nutrition course in Iranian medical schools. In this cross-sectional study the data were collected by posting a self-administrated questionnaire to all GPs who worked at private offices in Khorramabad city of Lorestan province in 2005. Participants were asked to state their opinions about each topic considering the following issues: the appropriate phase for introduction of the topic (in basic sciences, pathophysiology, or clinical training); need for learning it (low, moderate, high); and the time devoted to instruction of that topic (inadequate, appropriate, or excessive).GPs opinions were also surveyed to determine their reference for the topics not included in current nutrition course. Study data were processed by SPSS version 11 software and analyzed using descriptive and Chi-square statistics with a level of significance of less than 0.05.Results Most of participants believed that clinical teaching periods (clerkship and internship) are the appropriate stage for teaching disease- related or clinical aspects of nutrition. They also valued most of the topics listed in the questionnaire as important learning needs as well as 15 new nutrition topics Our results clearly indicate that there is a need to include clinical nutritional topics in the clinical training of medical students. New topics such as nutritional consideration in hypelipidemia, and heart disease should also be included in the nutrition education of physicians.

Background and In an era of increasing professional accountability, there is a need for both medical educators and licensing bodies to identify the exit competencies expected from medical graduates. Pediatrics department of Isfahan University of medical sciences has defined learning outcomes that should be achieved in pediatric ambulatory setting and both learners and teachers were informed about these outcomes. The aim of this study is to compare faculties’ expectation and interns’ self-assessment about their achievement of learning outcomes at pediatric out-patientclinics. In this cross-sectional study conducted in October and November 2005 a list of 63 learning outcomes was prepared. In the first phase, all faculty members were asked to specify desired level of achievement on 0-3 analogue scale for each outcome. In second phase, interns were acquired to self evaluate their level of achievement in these competencies based on the above scale. In this study 53 interns and 6 faculty members participated. Interns were expected to be fully competent with respect to eleven learning outcomes. There was a significant difference between faculties’ expectations and interns’ self assessment in 6 of full competency requiring outcomes and in 13 of high competency requiring outcomes. Interns’ achievement seems unsatisfactory regarding outcomes requiring full and high competency achievement and pediatrics department can revised its curriculum based on the results of this study and improve teaching and learning in the outpatient services.

Background and Shiraz University of Medical Sciences as one of the oldest and largest universities of medicine in Iran with 50 years history has more than 450 faculty members and 5000 students. This study is an attempt to find out the level of job satisfaction among Shiraz University of Medical Sciences’ faculty members. In midterm of 2003-2004, data on job satisfaction level among 404 faculty members from all schools of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences were collected. The translation of Spector’s job satisfaction score was used including 34 questions in 9 items of job satisfaction and each one based on Likert’s Scale with score an of 1-5. A question related to overall job satisfaction of faculty members was added. Of all faculties,, 252 responded to the questionnaire and 70.1% expressed satisfaction in response the added question. The mean scores of job satisfaction in items of coworkers, work nature, supervision, management methods, academic relations, promotion, salary and suitable benefits were 3.771, 3.265, 2.557, 2.454, 2.395, and 2.376 out of 5 respectively (F=223.8, p=0.0001). In thepromotion item, the satisfaction of female faculty was lower than male subjects. The level of jobsatisfaction was not different between clinical faculty members of Medical School with or without private activity. The results of linear regression analysis between the items of job satisfaction revealed that reimbursement and fringe benefits could predict the overall job satisfaction (r2=0.70, p<0.01).. As a whole, the faculty members of the university were satisfied with their jobs, but a correction in reimbursement, benefits and promotion regulations especially in lower academic ranks is needed to improve the level of job satisfaction in this group.