Journal of Medical Education
Volume:9 Issue: 1, Feb 2006

Background and Course-based assessment is a method to gather, analyze, disseminate, and use course data to improve student learning. We assessed the associations between medical students’ scores in basic sciences and general courses in a university in Iran and compared these scores with their scores in comprehensive exam. We collected the scores of medical students in their courses and also in their comprehensive exam in Kerman University in eight consecutive years (1995-2002). Using a hierarchical cluster analysis and discrimination index, the internal consistency of students’ scores was assessed. Generally, females were more successful. In addition, age had a strong negative correlation with academic achievement. The temporal variations in students’ achievements were more or less constant. Students’ scores in anatomy, biochemistry, histology, immunology, medical English, microbiology and physiology had the greatest discrimination indices and also stronger intra-cluster correlations. It seems that a cluster analysis and the discrimination index are powerful approaches to be used in a course-based assessment and to check the validity of students’ scores.

Background and small group teaching(SGT) in is a known method for developing intellectual skills, changing attitudes and encouraging the taking of responsibilities for learning. This study was an attempt to compare students’ attitudes and knowledge scores on SGT and lecture -based teaching (LBT). 22 first year medical students were enrolled in a course using two methods (lecture- based and small group discussion) for teaching basic epidemiology. Data about attitudes and knowledge scores of the two methods were collected at the end of the course and analyzed using a two-sided Wilcoxon test. The students were satisfied and preferred SGT in terms of Evaluation method for the course, Participatory learning and team working, effectiveness and developing self learning skills (p<0.001), and scored higher on topics of SGT(p<0.01), but believed that they needed longer discussion of the topics. Better question design and course organization and creating a safe, comfortable environment is essential for good performance. Integrating this teaching strategy in medical education curricula with appropriate professional and organizational development is suggested.

This article first gives a definition of grounded theory and its development and use in medicine and medical education. The fundamental differences of grounded theory with quantitative methods are discussed along a full discussion of the steps required to use a grounded theory approach. At the end the questions in the area of medical education which can best addressed with this approach are provided.

Background and The importance of training basic and advanced life support for undergraduates and graduated physicians are now widely recognized. Graduates of medical schools in Iran immediately get license to practice medicine without any supervision. Therefore, Clarification of the best phases for training CPR and the optimum mastery level in each phase is very important. This study is an attempt to find out the ideas of stakeholders about training CPR before internship, the experience needed at the beginning of internship, the best phase for training it and theassessment method. It is a survey study designed in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences to investigate the opinions of head-nurses, interns, residents and educational directors (in ten clinical departments/ wards) about training CPR before internship. Respondents completed self administered anonymous questionnaires. The questionnaires’ items covered opinions of respondents about CPR as interns’ duty, level of experience; best course for training and the assessment method. Meanwhile, views of participants were compared against educational directors’ idea by Fisher exact test.32 head-nurse, 285 interns, 13 resident and15 educational directors participated in the study and all agreed with CPR as interns’ duty in all clinical wards. Although, directors had different idea about level of experience for CPR to be achieved by interns, residents suggested level 3 of experience. According to the results externship is the best phase for CPR training and combination of observation and OSCE suggested as the best assessment method. To prepare the graduates achieving full competency in CPR performance, it is needed to implement training programs before internship. Internship is the best phase for getting expertise in CPR. Based on the results CPR considered as interns’ responsibility and medical schools should feel confidence about the competency ofinterns in CPR at the beginning of internship.

Background and Various approaches to learning are suggested & practiced. The traditional medical education were more teacher centered oriented. In this method the students’ involvement in the process of learning is not remarkable, but the new approach to medical education supports the students involvement. This study evaluated the various method of lecturing considering students involvements. One hundred two first year medical and nursing students involved in this study and their opinion about these two methods of learning were obtained by filling of a questionnaire. The subject of the lectures was “general psychology” which was carried out 50% by the students and 50% by the teacher. The statistical analysis was carried out by SPSS program. Considering students opinion in student-centered method the various aspect of learning such as mutual understanding, use of textbooks and references were significantly increased, whereas other aspects of learning such as self esteem, study time, innovation, and study attitude though were improved, but were not significant as compared with teacher centered method. In teacher-centered method the nderstanding of the subjects was significantly increased. Other aspects of learning suchas motivation and concentration were improved but not significantly as compared with studentcentered method. As the result showed student centered method was favored in several aspects of learning while in teacher centered method only understanding of the subject was better. Careful choice of teaching method to provide a comprehensive learning experience should take into account these differences

Background and The Internet offers a wide range of online digital resources for the field ofToxicology. The history of toxicology and electronic data collections are reviewed. This review presents a brief and non-comprehensive overview of a representative sampling of some of the broad array of toxicology-related learning, tutorial and information resources now becoming widely available to educators, health professionals, students and the general public via the Internet. A broad variety of useful learning and reference resources in the general fields of toxicology and the environmental health sciences is provided to introduce the reader to the diverse types of information currently available. Distance education and educational media resources are also available online in the field of toxicology. As molecular biology and computational tools improve, new areas within toxicology such as structural activity relationship analysis, mutational spectra databases and toxicogenomics, now have resources online as well. The sources and Internet links contained in this review will hopefully constitute a useful resource of basic toxicology information that should be readily accessible to most if not all Iranian readers.

Background and Worry, as a cognitive domain to anxiety, defined as a central feature of some clinical disorders. Worry plays an important role in psychopathology. Among general population, higher education students are experiencing worry in several domains, which can influence on their educational performance and social activities. In this study worry domains of Zabol public university students have been examined. 362 students in seven faculty of 2003 academic year were randomly selected. All the students filled worry domains questionnaire. The result revealed that the hierarchy of student’s worry domains could be placed under the following domains in descending order: 1 – future goals (82.3%). 2-job (75.5%) 3- uncertainty (51%).4- financial conditon (66%) 5- relationship (56.6%). According to the present findings Zabol public university student’s main worry domain is aimless future and work. The implication to this study can be used in counseling centers and in future planning for student’s mental health.

Background and After two decades of expansion of medical schools and increasing the number of medical students as one of the most attainable solutions for the problem of substandard status of Iranian community health, recently, quality-based policies in medical education have taken priority over most of the national health plans. To determine differences in the field of education between Iranian medical schools by stratifying their educational services. To measure the educational performance that could be utilized to rate the schools nationwide, a benchmarking tool, consisting of more than 60 indicators, was devised. Each school was asked to introduce a representative who would complete a questionnaire, which was designed to collect schools’ information. In the next step, all the divisions were visited by one of the project’s members and the school’s epresentative to revise and approve the data. Then, data retrieval was performedand verified at the project’s office. Finally, a special computer software was exploited to perform the final analysis. There were 45 public and private medical schools nationwide, which were stratified based on their individual scores. Furthermore, all schools were also ranked in each indicator. This study as one of the phases of Strategy Compilation for Educational Missions of the National System of Medical Education, defines the educational strengths and weaknesses of Iranian medical schools that could be used as a measure for authorities to determine the developmental limits and current stance of the medical schools; and optimize their budget and facilities.