Research and Development in Medical Education
Volume:2 Issue: 1, 2013

E-readiness assessment is the evaluation of one’s ability to accept and use information technologies and their relevant applications. E-readiness assessment helps us identify and study the strengths and weaknesses and consequently find solutions and formulate strategies to improve e-readiness which is considered as a guarantee for the implementation of knowledge development programs. This study aimed to assess ereadinessat TabrizUniversity of Medical Sciences. Thecurrent research is an analyticalstudyusing a questionnaire designedby the researchers to assess e-readinessatTabrizUniversityof Medical Sciencesin 2010-2011.Using Cronbach’salpha coefficient,the questionnaire reliability was estimated 0.85. Researchers have randomly selected 520 of managers, IT experts, professors and students at Tabriz university of Medical Sciences. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS. In general, the academic staff, students, managers and IT experts have assessed e-readiness as good, measuring 54.46±9.63. The study showed that the overall e-readiness rates were good at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences and suitable platforms were also provided for the University to enter into the field of IT. The condition will further improve if the officials dedicate more attention and support to the activities of Computer Department.

Pharmacology is one of the specific courses of the medical sciences students. Multiplicity of drugs and a lot of similarities in their characteristics make the learning of this lesson difficult and no common methods of teaching have been able to fix this problem so far. This study aimed to examine the effect of observing the dosage forms appropriate to each training session on enhancing learning pharmacology and comparing it with other traditional teaching methods. Fifty six Health Care Management and Family Health students in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences participated in this descriptive study. Each session was held using lectures and PowerPoint during half of educational classes and the other half was conducte d using whiteboard and at the same time the teaching pharmaceutical dosage forms, their functions and properties were shown. A standardized questionnaire based on Likert scale was given to the students and the level of learning was reviewed by self-assessment method. The data were analyzed using SPSS and descriptive statistical parameters. Teaching pharmacology through showing pharmaceutical dosage forms had significant effect on improving students learning in both fields based on their self-assessment, so that more than 95%of students were satisfied with the teaching methods. From point view of students, the understanding of pharmacology using whiteboard and showing pharmaceutical dosage forms was significantly more than PowerPoint. The students believe that the level of the learning pharmacology through using whiteboard along with observing the dosage forms appropriate to each training session is outstanding.

The main mission of medical schools is to train competent medical trainees for providing primary health care services, management of health care team and improving the health status of the population. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the undergraduate program of community medicine department among the graduates as general (family) physicians in health system of East Azerbaijan, North-West of` Iran. In this cross- sectional study all family physicians of East Azerbaijan province were included. A questionnaire on the views of graduates about the effectiveness of community medicine undergraduate program was used for gathering data. Data were analyzed by T-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation. Performance of community medicine department in creating competency for providing effective health services among physicians was 2.13 and management competency was 1.96 out of 4. To teach the necessary skills to meet the professional needs in Primary Health Care (PHC), Tabriz Community Medicine Department was better compared to Azad and other medical schools (p<0.001). The results of the study showed that the community medicine program in undergraduate medical education was effective for future career of physicians in the health system. There is a need to revise the health management courses in community medicine program.

The skill of appropriate prescription writing is a corner stone of treatment. Due to this fact, we designed a study for evaluating interns prescription writing skills after clinical pharmacology training. One hundred medical students of Tabriz University of medical science and Tabriz Azad medical university (TAMU) were chosen as intervention group and other one hundred medical students were selected as controls. Clinical pharmacology training was the intervention when the students were in internal medicine ward. Their prescribing skills were evaluated using a questionnaire. Twenty eight percent of TUMS non- trained students and 68% of trained students were interested in pharmacology classes (P<0.001). Knowledge of pharmacology in non- trained TUMS students was 22% poor and 6% perfect, but in trained TUMS students it was 2% poor and 18 % perfect. In TUMS students, 80% and TAMU, 68% of the interns announced that clinical pharmacology training was essential (P= 0.25). Most of the interns had problems in correct dictation, dosage, dose adjustment of the drugs and only 4% of them had minor problems. In trained group, most of their problems solved. Pharmacology classes which are a part of educational curriculum during the fourth year of medical training is not enough for future clinical rotations. Clinical pharmacology training is essential for improving the prescription writing skills.

A new training strategy in many medical universities around the world, which has been considered by educational planners, is interprofessional education (IPE). The main aim is designing and implementing IPE, reinforcing teamwork and collaboration among the health team members. This study has been done aiming to explore effective factors in the designing and implementing IPE in health system of Iran from the perspective of faculty members. This qualitative study used content thematic analysis methodology. A purposive sampling was used and continued until the data were saturated. The participants were six faculty members with more than 5 years of teaching experience or educational activities in Educational Development Center (EDC) or Educational Development Office (EDO). The four main themes emerged from the interviews were classified as follows: the structure of the educational system, economic issues, cultural atmosphere, and social conditions. They were all associated with some positive factors such as curriculum changes and reforms, design and implementation of the interprofessional education in various forms and some negative factors such as lack of physical structure appropriate for the IPE in the universities, promotion of culture of individualism and uni-professionalism, etc. The results of this study showed that in our country, the effect of educational, cultural, social and economic barriers on the development and implementation of IPE, and also, unfamiliarity of educational system with the various aspects of IPE, has made the implementing of these programs in the curricula of different professions of health sciences difficult.

One of the main problems in learning extraoral radiographic anatomic indexes is the long interval between presentation of radiology and human anatomy courses, resulting in forgetting anatomic regions. Therefore, radiographic indexes are formed as complete abstract and transient images in students’ minds; as a result, their learning and retention decrease. The aim of this study was to compare lecture with combination of computer-assisted learning and lecture of extra-oral radiographic landmarks among dental students. This interventional study was carried out in 2009 on 51 dental students of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. Students were randomly allocated into two groups. The first group was taught through a teaching method which involved lectures in the classroom. In the second group, a CD was given to the students. The teaching was accomplished through presentation using skull. Six months after finishing the teaching, both groups took a similar test for evaluation of long term learning. The data was analyzed by SPSS 16 using U Mann-Whitney test. There was no significant differences in the mean scores between the two groups in the first exam after teaching (P=0.13), yet it was significant in the second exam (regarding retention) (P=0.006), and average of non-traditional teaching method group (20.89±10.23) was higher than that of lecture group (13.48±6.39). Based on the results, non-traditional technique of teaching was not more effective than the lecture in short-term learning but in longterm learning, non-traditional technique was more effective than the lecture.

The major part of peoples knowledge, skills and abilities are achieved during the complex process called learning. Learning is not simply the product of mere intelligence and capabilities of individual; it also depends on other factors such as personality traits, personal interests, and t ype of duty and di fferent methods and st yles. The understanding of each individual fits with his/her learning style. The aim of this study was to determine the learning st yles of Health Care Management students inTabriz University of Medical Sciences. Learning styles of 55 Health Services Management students in Tabriz Health and Nutrition Faculty were evaluated in 2009 using a twelve-question Kolb questionnaire in a descriptive study. The data was anal yzed using SPSS. And the frequency of students learning styles was identified by their agesand averages. In this study, 69% of the students were female and the dominantlearning method was Assimilator (42%). Other styles with a regard to their frequency were Diverge (24%), Coverage (22%)and Accommodator (12%). In the present study,no statistically significant relationship was found in learning styles between the gender (p= 0.644)and average (p = 0.676)of the students. Assimilator and Diverge methods were the most common ones among the management students. Hence, to improve the quality of learning in this group of students, it is proposed that the teachers use interactive and creative teaching methods such as small and la rge group discussion,brain storming, problem solving, debate-based learning, self-learning and lecturing.

Physical modalities are performed by physiotherapists based on physiatrists’ orders, so the residents pay less attention to the need and importance of learning the practical modalities. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of teaching the practical aspects of modalities to residents of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in order to improve their skills and attitudes toward ordering and doing physical modalities. In an interventional, before after study, all residents of physical medicine and rehabilitation, took the medical history of the patients willingly participatedand performed physical examinationand ordered physical modalities. They were also assessed by performing the modalities on the patient. Following the primary assessment, an experienced physiotherapist taught the residents how to do physical modalities. After the practical education, residents were assessed by ordering the modalities and performing them on simulated patients. Their satisfaction of the educational program was evaluated after the intervention. The mean scores of using modalities before and after the education were 23.08± 5.50 and 52±10.18 respectively (p=0.0001). The mean scores of ordering the modalities before and after the education were 1 and 1.66 (p=0.038). The mean score of satisfaction was 91.66±8.74 out of 100. Since physical medicine and rehabilitation residents and specialists who order physical modalities for patients do not perform it on their own patients, teaching the practical physical modalities can improve their skills. The satisfaction rate of residents with the course was very high.

The sectional neuroanatomy due to its great importance in identifying the internal structure of the brain seems to be a necessary course of study to the residents of the neurosurgery, neurology and neuroradiology. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the traditional and the combined methods of teaching the neuroanatomy to two separate groups of neurosurgery residents. At the Imam Reza hospital of the Tabriz University of the medical sciences, the efficacy of the traditional and the combined methods of teaching the neuroanatomy to two separate groups of neurosurgery residents was compared and assessed by final exams and using questionnaires. The scores of the group B in a quite similar exam were higher than the group A. The questionnaire investigation also indicated that the combined method of teaching was more effective than the traditional method. This study also concluded that plus the traditional method of teaching the neuroanatomy, the direct observation of the serially sectioned slices of the human embalmed brain and comparing them concurrently with the similar slices of the MRI images, can raise the ability of the trainees to identify the internal structures of the brain more precisely in their medical experiences.

Training in a real work environment, within community is an effective method of education. Continuous evaluation of community based education courses is essential for both maintaining and improving their quality. In a cross-sectional study, 100 students who had passed community based education courses along with 15 faculty members teaching the same courses have been randomly selected in the faculties of Tabriz University of medical sciences. A researcher-designed questionnaire consisting questions of educational program, learning settings, teaching and assessment methods, used for data collection. The data was analyzed using SPSS16. Community based education among the students of Health and Nutrition, Dentistry, Para medicine, Pharmacy, Medicine, Nursing and Rehabilitation faculties scored 39.466.59± (average), 78.201.37± (very high), 52.7814.41± (high), 19.485.29± (low), 61.942.22.2± (good), 43.9716.82± (average) and 64.903.45± (high), respectively. The research results showed that community based education had different quality levels in different departments.