The Experiences of Faculty Members and Medical Students of Basic Medical Sciences of Characteristics of a Competent Professor: A Qualitative Study.

Background: The instructor is one of the key factors in attaining educational goals in medical education, and the instructor's competencies facilitate students' educational achievement. The present study is an attempt to explain the experiences of faculty members and students of characteristics of competent professors who play an influential role in the academic achievement of basic medical sciences students in universities of medical sciences across the country. Methods: The present study is a conventional qualitative content analysis. Fifteen faculty members and students of medicine from Iranian universities of medical sciences from different regions of the country were selected using a purposive and then theoretical sampling. A semi-structured interview was used for data collection. Results: In this study, four themes and nine sub-themes were extracted from interviews. The themes included "clinical knowledge", "teaching competency", "monitoring students' performance", and "cognitive-psychological arousal". The sub-themes were "clinical knowledge' including "Non-applied teaching of basic sciences and unfamiliarity of instructors of basic sciences with the clinic"; "teaching competency" including "having instructional design skills, teaching based on the psychology of learning, and professional development"; "monitoring students' performance" including "fair evaluation and valid evaluation", and "cognitive-psychological arousal" including "student support and reinforcement". Conclusion: The present study identified the important characteristics of the competencies of professors of basic medical sciences working in Iranian medical universities. The competency of professors is essential in promoting students' educational achievement and training efficient and professional students in the field of medicine to render quality health services. The results of this study will assist administrators and educational policymakers in planning for the promotion of professors and medical education.

Underpinning Learning Theories of Medical Educational Games: A Scoping Review.

Background: Gamification is the process of game thinking and game mechanics to attract learners and solve problems. It is a unique growing phenomenon in education and training programs. Educational games, by application of game design and game elements in learning environments, motivate students to learn and improve the teaching and learning process. Herein, this scoping review presents an overview of the theoretical underpinnings of gamification that is crucial in understanding the theoretical pillar of successful educational games. Methods: This scoping review follows Arksey and O'Malley's stages of scoping review. In this review, the gamification in medical education articles that implicitly or explicitly presented underpinning learning theories of gamification in medical education was retrieved. So, keywords such as gamification, learning theories, higher education, and medical education were searched in Scopus, PubMed, WEB OF SCIENCE, EMBASE, ERIC, and Cochrane Library from 1998 to March 2019. Results: The search indicated 5416 articles which were narrowed down by title and abstract relatedness. 464 articles entered the second phase of the study and after reviewing their full text, finally, 10 articles which were explicitly and implicitly reported the underpinning learning theories remained. Conclusion: Gamification is a strategy using game design techniques for non-game experiences for more effective learning and provides a more attractive environment for teaching and learning. Designing gamification based on learning theories (behavioral, cognitive, and constructivist), makes them more efficient, and the application of learning theories in designing gamification is recommended.

The relationship between personality traits and learning styles in medical education students at Iran University of Medical Sciences: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between personality traits and learning styles is an attractive subject for researchers. "Learning Style" indicates on a method of education for effective studying. The Kolb's Learning Style is a known theory in the field of learning style. The Kolb's four learning styles include: Divergent, convergent, assimilating, and accommodating. Furthermore, personality, known as relatively fixed and durable characteristics that distinguish people from each other, and personality contains five broad identified traits of extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. In this study, we intended to evaluate the relationship between personality traits and learning styles in medical education students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This research was an observational analytic cross-sectional study that was conducted on medical education students at Iran University of Medical Sciences, between 2018 and 2019, and 31 students were participated as volunteers. NEO Five-Factor Inventory and the Kolb's learning style inventory (version 3.1) were used to evaluate the students' personality traits and learning styles, respectively. The simple and multiple analysis of multinomial logistic regression were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The results indicated that if one unit would be added to the score of the "Extraversion" personality trait, the estimated odds, by which the student's learning style would become "Accommodating" rather than "Assimilating," is 1.3 times more than the basic condition, in which "Extraversion" score would be remained unchanged (P = 0.035). CONCLUSION: It seems that "Accommodating" learning style might be related to "Extraversion" personality trait in medical education students. However, researches with a larger population are suggested.

A qualitative approach to identify clinical uncertainty in practicing physicians and clinical residents.

BACKGROUND: Clinical decision-making is not only stressful to physicians, but also to patients and even their companions. Thus, managing uncertainty in clinical decision-making is essential which requires knowing its origins. Therefore, this study aimed to understand determinants of uncertainty in clinical decision-making from the perspective of clinical physicians. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a qualitative study which is done during October to November 2020. An in-depth interview is performed with 24 specialists of clinical groups including obstetrics, surgery, internal medicine, and pediatrics, working in teaching hospitals affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences. All the interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed according to the steps suggested by Graneheim and Lundman. The interviews were analyzed through comparative method. Then, the interviewer created initial codes, categories, and key concepts and sent them to fourteen physicians for member check. RESULTS: According to the participants' view, determinants of uncertainty in clinical decision-making consisted of three themes: individual determinants, dynamics of medical sciences, and diagnostic and instrumental constraint. Individual determinants can be related to the physician or patient. The dynamics of medical sciences could be explained in two categories: variation of medical science and complexity. Diagnostic and instrumental constraint category could be also explained in subcategories such as lack of efficient diagnostic tests and unknown etiology. CONCLUSION: To curb uncertainty, the more accessible way is considering interventional programs with a focus on individual determinants related to physicians, such as strengthening doctor-patient relationships, and considering related mandatory retraining courses to reduce insufficient knowledge of physicians.

Professionalism among academic educational leaders: A concept analysis.

Introduction: The concept of professional ethics of academic educational leaders is an abstract concept for which several highly context-dependent definitions have been provided in the literature. The analysis of this concept is critical to reaching a shared understanding, developing behavioral standards, and designing evaluation measures at universities of medical sciences. Methods: To explain the concept of professionalism among academic educational leaders, Walker and Avant's eight-stage concept analysis method was adopted. After an extensive review of resources, 37 articles were included and the antecedents, attributes, and consequences of the concept were extracted. Results: An examination of the resources and concept analysis revealed that professionalism in academic educational leaders has three main attributes of care ethics, justice-oriented ethics, and ethics of criticism, and its formation depends on personal characteristics, professional capabilities, and having a systemic view. Conclusions: The identification of components and professional characteristics of professionalism among academic educational leaders provides a shared understanding of professionalism and is a basic step towards designing measures to evaluate this concept.

Identification of change leadership dimensions and components in medical science education to move toward the third-generation universities: A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Change is a multidimensional and pervasive issue in the modern world, and organizations are constantly changing in social, cultural, political, economic, and technological fields. Change leadership is a model that employs a combination of leadership styles to keep the employees and the organization prepared for learning and continuous growth. This study aims to identify the dimensions and components of change leadership in medical sciences education to move toward third-generation universities through a qualitative approach. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study was an applied explorative qualitative study. Participants included the experts in the field of management and key informants in the field of change leadership and third-generation universities who were selected through purposive sampling. The research tool was semi-structured interviews aimed at the identification of dimensions and components of the change leadership. Interview-guided questions were about change leadership to move toward the third-generation universities followed by probing questions. Colaizzi content analysis technique was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Data from interview transcript analysis resulted in the identification of 335 initial codes, 13 subcategories, and 3 categories or dimensions. The main categories included "change leadership roles and specifications," "providing a context and preparing for change," and "change leadership process and path." Each of the main dimensions included several components. CONCLUSION: The importance of leadership in the process of change is since change entails the establishment and institutionalization of new systems and structures which is impossible without an effective leadership style. Leaders have high expectations of their followers and inspire them to strive toward organizational goals and facilitate the realization of the shared vision through encouraging them. As a leadership paradigm for organization performance improvement capable of encouraging employees and building an organizational culture in which ethical procedures are considered behavioral norms, change leadership seeks to predict the environment changes so that it can move in accordance with them.

The viewpoints of medical sciences wealth creators regarding the wealth creation strategies and path in medical sciences universities.

BACKGROUND: In the recent years, the wealth creation of educational institutions has attracted an enormous attention in different countries. Exploring experiences of these institutes help to improve the wealth creation of universities. In this regard, this study was an attempt to explain the viewpoints of the wealth creators of medical sciences regarding wealth creation strategies and define the general path of wealth creation in medical sciences universities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted at Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, in 2021. Participants were the experienced knowledgeable wealth creation experts. Fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted to reach data saturation. Interview guided questions were about strategies and paths of wealth creation followed by probing questions. Data were analyzed using conventional qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: Data analysis showed that the most important strategies were related to nine extracted categories of "the productions", "contracts and relations", revising, predicting and foresight" -, "education", "research", "healthcare services", " interdisciplinary fields between Information Technology (IT) and health-care", " saving and maintenance", and "altering the procedure of the wealth accelerator centers." In general, wealth creation path in medical sciences includes six main categories. CONCLUSIONS: The result of this study provide an opportunity for educational policy-makers and authorities to improve wealth creation in medical universities. Especially, accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic, to consider the interdisciplinary fields between IT and health-care and integrating technology to the various categories of medical sciences are absolute needs.

Developing and validating of the Clinical Uncertainty Measurement Questionnaire (CUMQ) among practicing physicians and clinical residents in Iran.

BACKGROUND: Despite the fact that clinicians face uncertainty in their decisions, there is no comprehensive framework to measure it in medical practices which is the knowledge gap especially for Iran. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the reliability and validity of a Persian questionnaire which is designed to measure different determining aspects of uncertainty from clinical physicians' perspectives in Iran. METHODS: Clinical Uncertainty Measurement Questionnaire (CUMQ) has been derived from a mixed method study since March 2019 to January 2021. To exclude raw items of the questionnaire, the literature was reviewed and in-depthinterviews were implemented with 24 residents,specialists and sub-specialists in all major clinical fields which resulted in the first theoretical uncertainty in clinical decision making framework. CUMQ content validity has been evaluated using content validity index (CVI) and content validity ratio (CVR). The structural validity of the questionnaire was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis and factor loading and t-value for each indicator of uncertainty is reported. Moreover, to analyze the research model we used the Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique using the SmartPLS software. Convergent (using Average Variance Extracted (AVEs) for each latent variable) and discriminant validity (using the criteria of Fornell and Larckerand cross loading) of the model was also evaluated. After that, the quality of the model was evaluated adjustment through predictive validity (Q2) and effect size (f2). In addition, the reliability was also assessed using Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability. RESULTS: The CVR and CVI ranged from 0. 80 to 1. 00 which illustrates high content validity. Out of 30 items, 24 items had acceptable factor loading and remained in the questionnaire which have been categorized as five main clinical uncertainty dimensions; general determinants, individual determinants of the physician, individual determinants of patient, dynamics of medical sciences, diagnostic and instrumental limitations. The value of composite reliability and Cronbach's alpha for all dimensions were above the threshold value of 0. 7 and the reliability has been confirmed. As AVE values were greater than 0. 5, convergent validity is confirmed. The result of Fornell-Larcker and cross-loadings also indicated that discriminant validity is well established. CONCLUSION: This CUMQ is as avalid and reliable instrument and a suitable tool to measure clinical uncertainty in the Iranian Medical community. However, the reliability of this questionnaire can be studied in other languages and in other countries.

Hidden Curriculum in Medical Residency Programs: A Scoping Review.

Introduction: Hidden curriculum is important in medical education and has numerous, long-lasting effects on medical residency. The present scoping review seeks to investigate, identify, and plot the main concepts relating to hidden curriculum and its dimensions, domains, impacts and factors in medical residency courses based on the main references and evidence. Methods: Scoping review methodology was used to guide a search of electronic databases for relevant papers. Of the 394 abstracts initially identified, after screening of both abstracts and full-text papers, 43 studies were selected for inclusion in this review. Following abstraction of key information from each study, a content analysis was undertaken. Results: Eleven themes were identified from the content analysis: 1) Organizational Issues (13.77%), 2) Socio-cultural Issues (10.5%), 3) Professional Issues (13.41%), 4) Communicational Factors (8.7%), 5) Educational Issues (22.83%), 6) Resident Personal Characteristics (21.01%), and 7) Resident Educational Characteristics (9.78%). Among the extracted effective hidden curriculum factors, the role modeling had the highest frequency and was emphasized in the studies. Conclusions: Although this study explained and identified the components, elements and also the preparation of the initial format of the hidden curriculum framework of the medical residency program, its results can reduce the negative effects of the hidden curriculum on it. More extensive and in-depth studies with different qualitative methods or mixed methods related to the hidden curriculum in different contexts and disciplines of medical residency are recommended to define characteristics of a constructive hidden curriculum of medical residency programs.

Development and psychometric properties of COVID-19 related Healthcare Student stress scale (CHSSS).

BACKGROUND: There is no valid and reliable tool to measure COVID-19 healthcare stress felt by healthcare students. A scale was developed to assess COVID-19 stress in healthcare students and its psychometrics was examined. METHODS: This is a two phases mixed-method study including a qualitative stage consisting of student interview and literature review to develop content of the tool. In the quantitative stage, the psychometrics of the scale was examined in 2020-2021. RESULTS: The COVID-19 related healthcare student stress scale (CHSSS) featured five factors including fear of catching coronavirus, social constraints, changes in education, non-compliance of health protocols and worrying news and overload information, which totally explained 51.75% of the total variance. CONCLUSION: Validity and reliability of CHSSS with 17 items were supported to measure COVID-19 stress in healthcare students as a self-assessment tool. Researchers can utilize this tool to assess COVID-19 stress in healthcare students and introduce policies and intervention especially designed for healthcare students.

Challenges and Expectations of Diabetic Foot Care from the Patients' Point of Views.

INTRODUCTION: Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) as a common complication of diabetes needs a multi-disciplinary care approach in which the patient suffering from DFU is considered as a member of the care team. According to the effective role of patients in DFU prevention and management, this study was an attempt to explore patients' views and expectations regarding provision of DFU preventive and therapeutic care to facilitate the process of care and management. METHODS: A qualitative research approach, using two focus group discussions, was conducted with patients suffering from diabetes and DFU. The questions designed to encourage the discussion were focused on the patients' experience of foot and DFU care. We continued the discussions until we reached data saturation. The participants' responses were recorded via a recorder and by taking notes. Afterwards, the discussions were transcribed and common themes were identified and categorized. RESULTS: Initially, fifty-seven codes were extracted which were then summarized and classified. Afterward, three themes and six sub-themes were determined as follows: defective education and ineffective communication("a defect in the patient education system", "impaired communication"), multi-faceted challenges of wound healing ("out of pocket expenses, treatment compliance", "non-physical injury"), and full support ("empathy" and "patient-centeredness"). CONCLUSION: According to patients' views, patients' concerns, and their socioeconomic conditions should be taken into consideration in designing an effective DFU care plan. In this regard, a strong communication with the patients to prepare a holistic care intended for patients' full support would be essential.

Students' view on supportive co-teaching in medical sciences: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Supportive co-teaching (SCT) is the practice of employing two or more experts whose knowledge and experiences are needed simultaneously to make a connection across different disciplines in a classroom. Although this interdisciplinary approach seems to be beneficial, there are many features which need further examination. This study was conducted to systematically review studies addressing the use of this approach and learners' views on SCT in medical sciences. METHODS: We searched for the studies addressing students' views on SCT in medical sciences from January1st 2000 to June 31st, 2019. All the studies, both quantitative and qualitative published in English language, investigating the students' views on SCT, in non-clinical courses in the setting of medical sciences were included. We searched electronic databases of PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, WHO Global Health Library, Health Systems Evidence, and ERIC with the keywords and phrases related to the topic which were: "co-teaching", "team teaching", "collaborative teaching", "peer-to-peer co-teaching", "partnership teaching", and" teacher collaboration". RESULTS: By the initial search, 9806 studies were found and after deletion of duplicates and screening, 111 remained for selection. Upon the independent review by two researchers, we were able to discern 12 studies eligible to be included for data extraction. All the studies reported positive views of the students towards SCT although some identified concerns and drawbacks. The students stated that they could better perceive the relationship between basic and clinical sciences, were more engaged in the learning process, and their learning experience was optimized in a course directed by SCT. CONCLUSION: Overall, the students showed positive views of this approach of teaching, and their grades indicated they learned better than expected. However, mismatch and lack of coordination between instructors would make the class distracting, confusing and even disturbing. Further studies investigating different variables related to teachers and students in SCT classes are suggested.

Exploring the challenges of educational accreditation of teaching hospitals and providing the solutions.

BACKGROUND: In the recent years, the accreditation of educational institutions and hospitals has attracted a lot of attention in different countries to ensure the quality of medical education. In this regard, examining the experiences of different countries will help to improve the world and local standards. This study was an attempt to explore the lived experiences of senior managers about the educational accreditation challenges and appropriate strategies to overcome these challenges. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The authors used a phenomenological approach to explore the lived experiences of the senior managers about educational accreditation of teaching hospitals affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to reach data saturation. For this purpose, three semi-structured face-to-face interviews and six electronic interviews were conducted. Data were analyzed using the Colaizzi method. RESULTS: Data analysis showed that the most important challenges of educational accreditation of teaching hospitals were related to standards and criteria, executive policies of accreditation, and educational, attitudinal, and financial infrastructures. The strategies expressed by the participants were categorized into four themes including reviewing and revising standards and criteria, planning for education, providing human and financial resources, and modifying the executive structure of accreditation. CONCLUSIONS: In order to improve the quality of educational accreditation programs, it is necessary to identify and find a solution for the existing challenges by experiential support of the senior managers of teaching hospitals and the other stakeholders (e.g., faculty members and students). It also provides an opportunity for educational policy-makers to improve the hospital's educational accreditation program.

Diabetic foot care course: a quasi-experimental study on E-learning versus interactive workshop.

BACKGROUND: Nurses, as multidisciplinary Diabetic Foot Care (DFC) team members, need to be trained in DF prevention and management. Regarding the increasing use of e-learning educational courses as the new learning strategy with potential benefits among health care providers, this study attempted to evaluate the educational effects of an e-learning course on DFC compared to that of an interactive workshop in the related knowledge attainment. METHODS: This was a quasi-experimental study compared two non-randomized groups consisting of nurses who attended an e-learning course (intervention group) and a face-to-face interactive workshop (control group) on DFC using a pre- and post-test design. The eligible nurses enrolled by convenience sampling. All five e-modules on DF prevention and care were the same for both groups. A P value of <0.05 was considered as significant. RESULTS: The study findings indicated that both e-learning course and interactive workshop increased DFC knowledge among nurses. There is a significant difference between the learning level (after training) in the intervention and control groups (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that the e-learning course of DF could be as effective as conventional educational methods. However, considering the time, cost savings and providing an opportunity to learn anytime and anywhere, of the e-learning course, it is recommend for the future and required that more health care providers be trained to use of distance learning.

Visualization of clinical teaching citations using social network analysis.

BACKGROUND: Analyzing the previous research literature in the field of clinical teaching has potential to show the trend and future direction of this field. This study aimed to visualize the co-authorship networks and scientific map of research outputs of clinical teaching and medical education by Social Network Analysis (SNA). METHODS: We Identified 1229 publications on clinical teaching through a systematic search strategy in the Scopus (Elsevier), Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics) and Medline (NCBI/NLM) through PubMed from the year 1980 to 2018.The Ravar PreMap, Netdraw, UCINet and VOSviewer software were used for data visualization and analysis. RESULTS: Based on the findings of study the network of clinical teaching was weak in term of cohesion and the density in the co-authorship networks of authors (clustering coefficient (CC): 0.749, density: 0.0238) and collaboration of countries (CC: 0.655, density: 0.176). In regard to centrality measures; the most influential authors in the co-authorship network was Rosenbaum ME, from the USA (0.048). More, the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands have central role in collaboration countries network and has the vertex co-authorship with other that participated in publishing articles in clinical teaching. Analysis of background and affiliation of authors showed that co-authorship between clinical researchers in medicine filed is weak. Nineteen subject clusters were identified in the clinical teaching research network, seven of which were related to the expected competencies of clinical teaching and three related to clinical teaching skills. CONCLUSIONS: In order to improve the cohesion of the authorship network of clinical teaching, it is essential to improve research collaboration and co-authorship between new researchers and those who have better closeness or geodisk path with others, especially those with the clinical background. To reach to a dense and powerful topology in the knowledge network of this field encouraging policies to be made for international and national collaboration between clinicians and clinical teaching specialists. In addition, humanitarian and clinical reasoning need to be considered in clinical teaching as of new direction in the field from thematic aspects.

A qualitative approach to identify barriers to multi-professional teamwork among medical professors at Iranian teaching hospitals.

BACKGROUND: In some cases of diseases, such as infectious, neurological and chronic ones prevention and treatment is complex. Therefore, a single medical specialty alone cannot effectively manage treatment of patients due to health care needs of them and complexities of treatment. Instead, a team composed of different healthcare disciplines with effective, continuous, and organized communication must follow up various aspects of patient care. In this regard, the present qualitative study aimed to shed light on the experiences of clinical teachers of multi-professional teamwork barriers within Iranian teaching hospitals. METHODS: In this qualitative research, the experiences of medical clinical teachers of multi-professional teamwork barriers within teaching hospitals were explained. Sampling was theoretical and the data were collected from experienced clinical teachers and medical students studying at several Universities of Medical Sciences through semi-structured interviews and observation, which were continued until data saturation. Fifteen clinical teachers and five medical students participated in the study. The interviews were analyzed using conventional content analysis. RESULTS: Three main categories were extracted. The first category was "enhancing the culture of interdisciplinary education" included "paving the way for an interdisciplinary culture", "enhancing teamwork culture", and "having a general view of medical sciences instead of specialization". The second category was "barriers of interdisciplinary education" included "influence of the dominant culture of specialization in society", "poor interdisciplinary education infrastructure", and "individualism as a value of society". And the third category was "consequences of specialization" included "medical sciences education under the shadow of specialization", "possibility to harming patients", and "distrust of society in the services provided by the 1st and 2nd level centers". CONCLUSION: It seems that attitudinal barriers, teamwork difficulties, and the culture of individualism are evident in Iran; more, roles of the healthcare team and the status of each member is not clear. Designing interactive curriculum and arranging clinical settings to facilitate exchange of ideas among clinical teachers and students of different disciplines, is a step forward to achieving a common value concept, language, and common perception, and establishing cooperation and understanding among disciplines involved, which leads to further understanding of the professional responsibilities of other disciplines.

Transcendent Philosophy of Medicine: A Deductive Synthesis According to the Transcendental Wisdom (Mulla Sadra School of Thought).

Medicine is dependent to definition of human being in all existential dimensions, and this study attempts to synthesize a philosophy of medicine based on transcendental wisdom that was instituted by Mulla Sadra (979-1045 AH /1571-1635 AD). Using implication eliciting methodology, in the paradigm of consensual qualitative research, ten main principles of transcendental wisdom were selected and described after being approved by experts (n = 13). Then, after more than 4 years of prolonged engagement using these principles, the transcendent philosophy of medicine was deductively synthesized. Afterward, to reach consensus, the results were reviewed in four panel discussions with experts (n=20). According to the transcendental wisdom, human being has four main dimensions including corpus, psyche, nous and soul and each contain two core aspects. These dimensions and aspects construct a real unity complex called human being (Nafs), that is the survival agent and cause of all aware and unaware biological, cognitive and behavioral capabilities in all dimensions of human existence. A holistic model of health was presented, and coherent strategies according to the ten transcendental wisdom principles were recommended in all corporeal and incorporeal aspects of human health, including environmental, biological, mental, identity-related, logical, intellectual, spiritual, ethical and social health.

Exploring the features of mobile phone application of anatomy in basic medical sciences: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: The importance of mobile phones has become one of the new research topics in health professions education due to the ease of access and flexibility. Although novel approaches to health professions education recommend the use of educational technologies, such as mobile applications, a limited number of studies have been conducted with regard to learning anatomy through mobile applications. Considering the increasing needs of medical students for mobile technology to meet their educational needs, wants and desires, we decided to explore the features of an anatomy mobile application. METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted in two stages of holding focus groups, and an expert panel session. Students of basic Medical sciences, and faculty members of anatomy at Iran University of Medical Sciences formed the research participants. Semi-structured interviews and note-taking were used to collect the data. Moreover, Brown and Clark methods were used for thematic analysis. Finally, four criteria presented by Lincoln and Guba for qualitative studies were used to ensure the credibility, confirmability, trustworthiness and transferability of the data. RESULTS: Based on the data analysis, 37 codes that could be used to design anatomy mobile content for medical students were extracted. These features were categorized into eight main themes of "visual richness", "scientific comprehensiveness", "auditory richness", "affordability", "user-friendliness", "self-assessment", "interactive content" and "user support". CONCLUSION: This study explored the features of an anatomy application that can be used by educational app developers. Anatomy departments at Medical Universities, policymakers, and curriculum planners in the field of medical education can also adopt the findings of the present study.

Humanism in clinical education: a mixed methods study on the experiences of clinical instructors in Iran.

BACKGROUND: Medical education is currently more considerate about the human dimension. The present qualitative study aimed to explain the experiences of clinical professors with regard to humanism in clinical education in Iran. METHODS: This mixed methods study had two phases, a quanitative phase of scientometrics and a qualitative phase of a content analysis. In the scientometrics phase, Ravar PreMap and VOSviewer software programs were utilized for plotting the conceptual networks. The networks were analyzed at the micro-level based on centrality indices (closeness, degree, and betweenness). The conceptual network was plotted and the prominent topics in clinical education were identified using co-word analysis. In the second qualitative phase on the topic, based on the scientometrics phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted with clinical professors. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed. RESULTS: On the basis of the analysis of titles, abstracts, and keywords of the retrieved articles on clinical education from ISI Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed, 1412 keywords were extracted. After the refining process, 356 keywords with 6741 relations remained. Upon plotting the conceptual network, 19 conceptual clusters related to clinical education were obtained. Then, micro-level network analysis (centrality criteria) indicated that the keyword humanism with the frequency of 137 had the highest rate (97.753), closeness (97.802), and betweenness (13.407). Moreover, from the interview data analysis, two themes of "intertwined nature of the human spirit in clinical education" and "humanistic behavior of professors in clinical education" were extracted. CONCLUSION: As a part of the educational culture, humanistic values must be intertwined with the medical education curriculum. In this regard, humanism and clinical reasoning are the two major clusters of clinical teaching; moreover, altruism and adherence to humanistic values, and scientific qualification are other main pillars that should be considered as the criteria for the selection of clinical professors and medical students.