Research and Development in Medical Education
Volume:1 Issue: 2, 2012

Problem-based learning (PBL) method has progressed as an alternative to lecture-based learning (LBL) method in recent decades. Benefits of PBL clearly supported by researches however several items remain unclear especially in Iranian medical universities. The aim of this paper is to compare the learning outputs of PBL and LBL methods. In this cross- sectional study public health course was prepared for three groups of students. Group 1 included medical students (n=101), Group 2 dentistry students (n=54), and Group 3 was formed of pharmacy students (n=112). Scores of final exam as well as 10 similar- root questions as a short-term outcome, scores in national basic science exam, recent similar informal exam as a mid-term output in addition to course evaluation by students, and assessment of attitude about PBL were compared between groups. Data analysis was performed by SPSS-11 using means’ comparison. Scores of students in PBL group was significantly higher in final exam (P<0.001). The percentage of correct responses to 10 same- root questions in PBL (M= 6.68) were significantly higher (M=6.54). Faculty members were evaluated better in PBL group (P<0.001) in all aspects of teaching. Totally, the students who evaluated teachers in PBL group had 2 points more than LBL group (P<0.001). Scores of students in national exam (after two years) and the recent survey (in the third year) were higher in PBL group (P<0.001). Results of using PBL method indicated the higher rate of scores and better recalling of learned materials in this method.

Teaching and training are the basic responsibly of a faculty member. One of the fundamental problems of education in the universities is not having a criterion to identify the effective teaching styles. The aim of this study was to determine Grasha teaching method among the faculty Members in Shiraz Medical School. this descriptive, cross- sectional study was done on 100 faculty members who were selected by census sampling method. Data collection method was Grasha questionnaire which contains 40 questions in 5 sections. Data were analyzed by SPSS 18. All questionnaires were completed. The age range was from 32 to 65 and the mean age was 46. 57% were male. There were 27 PhD, 35 specialists and 38 subspecialists. The highest average score belonged to “Expert” method (2/66±0/55) and the lowest to “Personal” (2± 0/76). 96% of the academic staffs were inclined to “Expert“method and %97, %83, %78, %80 to “Formal «, “Personal», “Delegator“and “Facilitating“methods, respectively. There was no significant difference between male and female, but in “Expert” method, the average of females was superior. %77 was under 50 years and %23 over 50. There was no significant difference between elder and younger academic members. No significant difference was found in terms of university degree. This study suggested academic members are inclined to use «Expert” and Delegator methods. Therefore, it is necessary for the academic members to choose a method which creates intellectual excitement among the students through the clarity of teaching content and understanding among individuals that increase the efficiency of their methods.

It is apparent that having a good inflammation in hemodialysis indications, methods of the procedure, recognition of the complications are common mistakes in emergency and internal medicine and they are life saving for patients most of the times. It is clear that our medical students have many problems in this field (hidden curriculum). Therefore, we decided to do a study on the subject. During 2011, forty interns of nephrology ward enrolled in this study. They filled a questionnaire containing questions about their general hemodialysis knowledge before passing the classes. After having six one -hour classes on HD essentials, complications and emergencies, they filled the questionnaire again. The data analyzed using paired t-test and the reported Mean ± SD P< 0.05 considered significant. The interns were satisfied in all the trained aspects like general hemodialysis knowledge (P< 0.001), dialysis essentials (P<0.001), physical examination (P<0.001), AVF examination (P< 0.001), volume reduction (P< 0.001), anticoagulation (P<0.001), AVF failure management (P<0.001), HD complications (P<0.001), device setting (P<0.001), cannulation (P< <0.001), dialysis efficacy (P< 0.001) and capability of patients education(P<0.001). Medical students had many problems with HD so that teaching of most essential aspects of hemodialysis can improve their knowledge which can be life saving in emergency situations.

After revision of pharmacy curriculum by, Iranian Health and Education Ministry reviewed in 2005, it was decided that pharmacy students need extra internship courses such as hospital internship course. Hospital internship course could provide students with the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and master the skills required for current pharmacy practices in community and hospital setting. The aim of this study was to identify and analyze pharmacy students’ experiences during hospital internship. Each student attended in 3 wards and provided a logbook for each ward. Students were asked to document at least one topic interesting for them on each day. The collected information was divided into sections and analyzed using SPSS ver 14. Seventeen students enrolled in the course. Endocrinology and nephrology wards had the highest and neurology the lowest number of attended students. Seven hundred and one reported learning subjects were divided into 24 areas. The highest numbers of reported topics were the drugs indications, adverse drug reactions and diagnosis of diseases while the lowest number was pretreatment laboratory tests, pharmacoeconomy, counseling medical staffs and off label use of medications. Gastroenterology and endocrinology wards with 210 reports had the highest and neurology ward with 12 had the lowest number of reports. Completing the logbooks was an encouragement for students to seek and document and learn new topics and also a major feature of the clinical assessment scheme of the course. The majority of the reported topics were learning objectives but not the interventional ones. The present study showed us some areas of pharmacy education which need further attention.

In a four-year undergraduate level, the nursing students have to get prepared in the patients education, designing care plans, applying nursing processes and exercise the clinical decisions, in addition to learning practical skills. Therefore, multiple clinical teaching strategies in nursing must be applied. In this study the sheets for the mentioned fields were designed and used. In this action research in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, 64 nursing senior students and related instructors participated. Clinical written assignment included the patient’s health condition sheet, tables showing the used medicines and the precautions, the clinical and paraclinical tests and the results, identifying the patient problems, designing and implementing care plan and writing nursing reports with SOAPIE method. The instructors’ viewpoints were achieved through the group discussions and their notes taken. The perceived competency of the students was obtained through a questionnaire. The qualitative data was analyzed by the content analysis and quantitative using SPSS. Both the students and the instructors agreed with the clinical written assignment. The desired care competency of the students before and after assignment was statistically significant (p<0.05). According to the instructors, intervention was useful for the senior students who have passed the courses needed for completing and using the different parts of these forms. Since a need is always felt in the trends of the nursing clinical teaching, the researchers recommend the clinical written assignment and their application along with other strategies for senior nursing students in clinical teaching.

Development of information literacy is considered a required factor for instructors of higher education system due to its impact on educational and research activities, and performance of educational academic members is a main factor that affects the output of system. The aim of this study was to report and compare the information literacy among the academic members of departments of clinical and basic biomedical sciences in 2011. A cross-sectional survey was performed using a valid and reliable questionnaire distributed among 48 full-time equivalent academic members of Zabol University of Medical Sciences in both clinical (19 members) and basic biomedical departments (29 members). Data were analyzed using Fisher, Mann-Whitney and Chi-square statistics in SPSS 17. Information literacy of the members was at an average level at both knowledge and attitude levels but it was low at the practice. There was a significant difference between two groups in terms of awareness about information resources; however, the difference was not significant for the utilization of information resources. Members of department of basic biomedical sciences were more aware than those of clinical department about the information resources but such awareness has not resulted in more use of resources in the educational and research activities. Despite positive attitude of all members towards the application of electronic information resources in both educational and research activities, their awareness of information literacy skills and practicing were not satisfying in educational and research sections. As a final point, Information literacy is hence suggested as a part of continuing medical education courses.

The purpose of this cross sectional study is to gain insight into the students and clinical instructors’ perception of learning environments at Yazd medical University in 2012. Various aspects of environment are compared between courses, gender and age. Students and instructors’ perspectives are reported. The sample consisted of 158 undergraduate students in their final year of graduation in the nursing, anesthesia, operating room, laboratory, radiology, midwifery courses and their 20 clinical instructors at Yazd University. Data were obtained using the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM). Scores were compared across grouping variables identified via demographic information. Scores were fairly high for both students and clinical instructors (M=110.0; SD=21.2 and M=93.1; SD=10.3 respectively), indicating an overall positive perception of learning environments between both groups. The perception of atmosphere subscale (PA) received the highest mean grade by both groups. Total DREEM scores didn’t vary significantly between courses (p>0.05) but the results of ANOVA test showed significant differences only for perception of teaching and perception of atmosphere domains. There was not a significant association between females and males regarding total DREEM score (p>0.05). The more positive than negative perception held by the Yazd University health science students and instructors is hopefully indicative of a favorable teaching-learning environment. Overall; teachers’ attention to principles of educational design and setting a favorable environment to promote better learning is recommended.

Health care professionals deal with a large amount of information as they usually have various educational, scientific, clinical and administrative responsibilities. In this study we tried to investigate the knowledge of Iranian faculty members and PhD candidates of Tehran University of Medical Sciences about Personal Information Management (PIM) in order to present an instructional model to improve PIM skills. We conducted semi-structured interviews with a purposive snowball sample of 40 Iranian faculty members and PhD candidates of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. We used N8 to codify and analysis interview concepts. Participants had little knowledge about how to manage their personal information. The use of PIM was in low rate among participants. Faculty members were more successful in organizing and retrieving personal information; while PhD candidates were more skilled in acquiring and keeping personal information. PIM is the missing link in the medical education in which various spectrums of instructional techniques is needed for the prosper implementation and usage of PIM in the medical field. We suggested an instructional model based on learning theories to educate and improve participants’ knowledge and skills in PIM.

Wide spread availability of internet made the web based education as a real module for training under -graduate medical students. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of web based multimedia education in normal electrocardiography. In a semi-experimental study and based on the educational programs of medical students in their inpatient training courses, the normal electrocardiogram selected for web based multimedia education. The materials necessary to teach normal electrocardiogram were provided and multimedia was prepared for installing into computers. Two groups of medical students, 30 in each group in their cardiology service (senior and junior students) were selected. Mean while the intervention group studied the multimedia for an hour and for comparison group classroom - based education was done. At the end of study all students answered to atwenty question questionnaire about normal electrocardiogram. The percentage of correct answers in intervention and comparison groups was 72% and 71% respectively. The prevalence of correct answer for junior students in intervention and comparison group was 68% and 67% respectively. The percentage for senior students was 73% and 75%. Like other studies, this study showed the multimedia training can be as effective as the routine classroom based learning. Web based multimedia education is as efficient as classroom based education and can be used as a suitable alternative to conventional methods of training.